ABSTRACT
Can corporatism help explain the enigma of growth and decline in Korean capitalism? We must first address the question of the comparative merit of the corporatist concept for explaining interest mediation in South Korea. On the one hand, can the corporatist thesis shed light on significant Korean patterns of interest consolidation and exchange among state, capital, and agrarian labor? Can corporatism provide a compass in the Korean forest of clear state direction despite periodic ungovernability, remarkable progress towards status as a modern, capitalist society, and yet today a very serious financial crisis? On the other hand, what can the growing literature on Korean capitalist development tell us of both the utility and conceptual refinement of the corporatist thesis? An answer lies in the interplay of case and concept. Concepts and case studies make possible comparisons of social exchange across time and national boundaries. Concepts alert us to significant parallels and contrasts among the nations or subjects of interest, just as case studies test, refine and extend the explanatory power of the concepts. But apart from clarity of either concept or case, the prior question remains one of utility.
