ABSTRACT
A country’s policy styles reflect the nature of policy consultations among different political actors, who in turn participate in initiating, moderating, and shaping policies. Under the influence of Confucian culture, South Korea has developed a unique policy style that can be characterized as a collaboration between public officials and scholars. Scholars, or ‘learned men,’ are key players in this Confucian society. Indeed, South Korea’s policy styles are evolving into a Confucian policy nexus with public officials and scholars engaging together in the policy-making process, despite the changing roles of scholars and academic communities. This chapter will explore the nature of South Korea’s Confucian policy style, and investigate how scholars become active policy actors as they interact with politicians and public officials. In particular, this chapter will examine the extent to which scholars are involved in the policy-making process both formally (e.g., as holders of administrative/ political positions or as participants in policy committees) and informally (e.g., by conducting government-contracted policy research or contributing views on policy-related issues via the media). This chapter will also address how Confucian policy styles – i.e., the policy nexus between public officials and scholars – have been evolving over the past three decades of the country’s democratization.
