From Miracle to Crisis and Back: South Korean Development Stephanie Gladwin

Nicolas Grinberg: Author Article Purpose: “Analyze the process of economic development and associated political transformations in South Korea since the mid-1960’s” (Grinberg, 2014). Article Argument: Grinberg argues that the state policies enacted created the widely successful capitalist Korean economic structure from 1960’s until now.

30 year overview “In only three decades, the country went from a poor, war-destroyed nation to a leading industrial producer where full employment prevailed and poverty was practically uprooted.” -Nicholas Grinberg

Goals: Korea was looking to be able to create a production of relative surplus value on a global scale... Why? Create a capitalist structure which requires an influx of capital, hence, relative surplus of product How? Simplified Manual Labor processes

Trends

Economic crisis 1997-1998 Different arguments by four different authors Neoliberal authors: blamed the market liberalisation program Statist authors: blamed the state intervention of financial and banking sectors Marxist authors: saw the development of Korean capitalism in terms of the interaction between domestic and international processes Grinbergs argument: Global developments in reproduction of Korean capitalism was better than policy centered neoclassical-neoliberal debates

Domestic and International On the domestic side: we see a lack of discipline and a rise of working class political activism → wages for manual workers were pushed up On the international side: U.S. investment in low-wage China in the late 1980’s → meant that Korea could not compete in the global market This caused Korea to have to change their production strategies

Important terms to know and why they matter Moving from ISI to EOI ISI: Imports-substitute industrialization EOI: Export-Oriented Industrialization NIDL- New International Division of Labor in 1970 Definition: Dispersal of parts of production for minimal production costs

What did Capitalism mean for Koreans? Producing commodities=power. They give up some of that power as a sovereign act for representation Capitalism helped individuals gain: Citizenship Political representation

Conclusion Export Recovery Plan: 1999 → Korea had to invest in their labor market. They needed to change their relatively cheap and disciplined labor force to trained and knowledgeable laborers and invest in Technology → The Export Recovery Plan was contradictory and resulted in slow growth but today they have a powerful global market.