Distorted policy transfer? South Korea's adaptation of UK social enterprise policy. (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Park, Chisung; Lee, Jooha; Wilding, Mark
• Is Part Of: Policy studies. Volume 38:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 39
• Page End: 58
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Policy transfer -- legitimization -- social enterprise -- South Korea -- UK; Policy sciences -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Economic policy -- Decision making -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1945- -- Decision making -- Periodicals; 320.605
• DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2016.1188904
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0144-2872

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study draws upon communicative processes in policy transfer to consider the ways in which policy may be adapted to context or distorted. The theoretical framework is used to investigate exactly what the South Korean government borrowed from UK social enterprise policy. Despite claims that the UK was the source of both the general policy direction and the particular regulatory device, the Korean government did not learn about the specific contexts of the British policy, nor attempt two-way communication with domestic stakeholders. Rather, the UK policy was interpreted in accordance with the Korean government's own ideas about how to utilize social enterprise. Historical legacies of top-down decision-making played an important role in this process, as did the state's role as a regulator which mobilizes the private sector to achieve policy goals. The consequences have been negative for those organizations refused social enterprise status under the Ministry of Labor's strict approval system, as well as for the original target population: the socially disadvantaged and vulnerable. It is suggested that the model advanced may help to illuminate the reasons why some borrowed policies differ considerably from the originals, and the use of policy transfer as a means of legitimization.