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KMID : 1001320170440040127
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Social Welfare Policy
2017 Volume.44 No. 4 p.127 ~ p.153
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A Historical and Institutional Analysis of Family Obligation Rules in Korea: Adopting the Theory of “Gradual Institutional Change”
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Heo Yong-Chang
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Abstract
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This study aims to examine the developmental path of family obligation rules in Korean public assistance by adopting the theory of ‘gradual institutional change’. Adopting the theoretical framework enables us to analyze the characteristics of both political context and the targeted institution and to classify the case of family obligation rules in Korean public assistance into a specific ideal type posed by the theory. The findings from the study reveal key characteristics of political context and the targeted institution. In terms of political context, public assistance scheme was introduced by authoritarian governments at the era of industrialization in order to stabilize their political regimes. Although the scheme was considerably reformed after the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s, the rules were not abolished and even partially reinforced at the level of enforcement ordinance. In terms of the targeted institution, two features affect how the family obligation rules were interpreted and whether administrative authorities can exercise discretion when they applied the rules to public assistance. The first one was that the key element of who are responsible for supporting their family was not specified in the 1983 Public Assistance Act. The other one was that the rules were even reinforced by bringing in new elements when the 2000 Public Assistance Act was significantly amended. With these findings, this study concludes that the case of family obligation rules in Korean public assistance scheme can be classified into the types of both drifts and layerings depending on the dominant characteristics for decades.
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KEYWORD
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historical institutionalism, gradual institutional change, public assistance, family obligation rules
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