IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijurrs/v32y2008i1p40-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uneven Development, Inter‐scalar Tensions, and the Politics of Decentralization in South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • BAE‐GYOON PARK

Abstract

In this article, I examine how the spatiality of the state and its associated territorial politics can have an impact on the spatial and scalar restructuring of the state. Building on recent theoretical developments on state space, this article examines how territorial politics can be organized under the particular spatiality of the state, and how that particular form of territorial politics can have an impact on the future restructuring of state spatiality. In particular, by focusing on the spatial processes of state restructuring in South Korea, I will attempt to conceptualize the ways in which the spatiality of top‐down regulatory processes led by the state can generate inter‐scalar tensions between the national and the local; this, in turn, results in the downward rescaling of the state. More specifically, the empirical focus is on how the processes of decentralization in South Korea have been shaped by the influences of various kinds of territorial politics (for example, inter‐scalar tensions between the national and the local, territorialized party politics, etc.) that occur within the context of uneven regional development stemming from the spatial selectivity of state regulation. Résumé Cet article examine comment la dimension spatiale de l'Etat et les politiques territoriales afférentes peuvent affecter la restructuration de l'Etat en termes d'espace et d'échelle. A partir de théories récentes sur l'espace de l'Etat, est examinée la manière dont les politiques territoriales peuvent être organisées compte tenu de la spatialité spécifique de l'Etat,et dont cette forme spécifique de politique territoriale peut agir sur la restructuration future de la spatialité de l'Etat. En s'intéressant aux processus spatiaux de restructuration de l'État en Corée du Sud, ce travail tente de concevoir comment la dimension spatiale des processus réglementaires verticaux menés par l'Etat peut générer des tensions entre les échelons national et local, ce qui entraîne une réduction d'échelle de l'Etat. Plus précisément, l'intérêt empirique porte sur la façon dont les processus de décentralisation sud‐coréens ont subi l'influence de diverses sortes de politiques territoriales (comme les tensions entre échelons national et local, les politiques de parti territorialisées, etc.) existant dans le cadre d'un développement régional inégal issu de la sélectivité spatiale de la réglementation étatique.

Suggested Citation

  • Bae‐Gyoon Park, 2008. "Uneven Development, Inter‐scalar Tensions, and the Politics of Decentralization in South Korea," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 40-59, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:32:y:2008:i:1:p:40-59
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00765.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00765.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00765.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brenner, Neil, 2004. "New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199270064.
    2. Mark Goodwin & Martin Jones & Rhys Jones, 2005. "Devolution, constitutional change and economic development: Explaining and understanding the new institutional geographies of the British state," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 421-436.
    3. Rhys Jenkins, 1991. "The Political Economy of Industrialization: A Comparison of Latin American and East Asian Newly Industrializing Countries," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 197-231, April.
    4. Henry Wai-chung Yeung, 2002. "The Limits to Globalization Theory: A Geographic Perspective on Global Economic Change," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 78(3), pages 285-305, July.
    5. Bob Jessop & Ngai-Ling Sum, 2000. "An Entrepreneurial City in Action: Hong Kong's Emerging Strategies in and for (Inter)Urban Competition," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(12), pages 2287-2313, November.
    6. M R Jones, 1997. "Spatial Selectivity of the State? The Regulationist Enigma and Local Struggles over Economic Governance," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 29(5), pages 831-864, May.
    7. Fox Z Y Hu, 2005. "Deconstructing State-Owned Enterprises in Socialist China under Reform: A Scalar Examination," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(4), pages 703-722, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Douglas R Gress, 2015. "Knowledge bases, regional innovation systems, and Korea's solar PV industry," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(6), pages 1432-1449, December.
    2. Zhigang Li & Jiang Xu & Anthony G O Yeh, 2014. "State Rescaling and the Making of City-Regions in the Pearl River Delta, China," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(1), pages 129-143, February.
    3. Mustafa Kemal Bayirbağ, 2013. "Continuity and Change in Public Policy: Redistribution, Exclusion and State Rescaling in Turkey," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1123-1146, July.
    4. Xiaobo Su, 2012. "Transnational Regionalization and the Rescaling of the Chinese State," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(6), pages 1327-1347, June.
    5. Matjaž Uršič & Blaž Križnik, 2012. "Comparing urban renewal in Barcelona and Seoul—urban management in conditions of competition among global cities," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 21-39, May.
    6. Jung-Hun Yang & Kwang-Woo Nam, 2022. "Modelling the Relationship of Infrastructure and Externalities Using Urban Scaling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Hyun Bang Shin & Soo-Hyun Kim, 2016. "The developmental state, speculative urbanisation and the politics of displacement in gentrifying Seoul," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(3), pages 540-559, February.
    8. Bokyong Shin & Chaitawat Boonjubun, 2021. "Media and the Meanings of Land: A South Korean Case Study," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(2), pages 381-425, March.
    9. Sugyeong Park & Sea Jin Kim & Hangnan Yu & Chul-Hee Lim & Eunbeen Park & Jiwon Kim & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2020. "Developing an Adaptive Pathway to Mitigate Air Pollution Risk for Vulnerable Groups in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, February.
    10. Shin, Hyun Bang & Kim, Soo-Hyun, 2016. "The developmental state, speculative urbanisation and the politics of displacement in gentrifying Seoul," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60439, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Dong-Wan Gimm, 2013. "Fracturing Hegemony: Regionalism and State Rescaling in South Korea, 1961–71," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1147-1167, July.
    12. Yanpeng Jiang & Paul Waley, 2020. "Small horse pulls big cart in the scalar struggles of competing administrations in Anhui Province, China," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(2), pages 329-346, March.
    13. Bae-Gyoon Park, 2013. "State Rescaling in Non-Western Contexts," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1115-1122, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. lain Deas & Alex Lord, 2006. "From a New Regionalism to an Unusual Regionalism? The Emergence of Non-standard Regional Spaces and Lessons for the Territorial Reorganisation of the State," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1847-1877, September.
    2. Xiaobo Su, 2013. "From Frontier to Bridgehead: Cross-border Regions and the Experience of Yunnan, China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1213-1232, July.
    3. David Clelland, 2020. "Beyond the city region? Uneven governance and the evolution of regional economic development in Scotland," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(1), pages 7-26, February.
    4. Stephanie Farmer & Chris D Poulos, 2019. "The financialising local growth machine in Chicago," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(7), pages 1404-1425, May.
    5. Allan Cochrane, 2012. "Making up a Region: The Rise and Fall of the ‘South East of England’ as a Political Territory," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(1), pages 95-108, February.
    6. Wilmsmeier, Gordon & Monios, Jason, 2015. "The production of capitalist “smooth” space in global port operations," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 59-69.
    7. Evers, Hans-Dieter & Nordin, Ramli, 2012. "The symbolic universe of Cyberjaya, Malaysia," MPRA Paper 39210, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Monios, Jason & Wilmsmeier, Gordon, 2013. "The role of intermodal transport in port regionalisation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 161-172.
    9. Xiaobo Su, 2015. "Urban entrepreneurialism and the commodification of heritage in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(15), pages 2874-2889, November.
    10. John Harrison, 2008. "Stating the Production of Scales: Centrally Orchestrated Regionalism, Regionally Orchestrated Centralism," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 922-941, December.
    11. Delphine Ancien, 2011. "Global City Theory and the New Urban Politics Twenty Years On," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(12), pages 2473-2493, September.
    12. Graham Haughton & Philip Allmendinger, 2015. "Fluid Spatial Imaginaries: Evolving Estuarial City-regional Spaces," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 857-873, September.
    13. Krisztina Varró, 2012. "Reconsidering the English Question as a Matter of Democratic Politics and Spatial Justice," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(1), pages 29-45, February.
    14. HaeRan Shin & Se Hoon Park & Jung Won Sonn, 2015. "The emergence of a multiscalar growth regime and scalar tension: the politics of urban development in Songdo New City, South Korea," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(6), pages 1618-1638, December.
    15. Krisztina Varró, 2014. "Spatial Imaginaries of the Dutch–German–Belgian Borderlands: A Multidimensional Analysis of Cross-Border Regional Governance," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 2235-2255, November.
    16. Wilmsmeier, Gordon & Monios, Jason, 2016. "Institutional structure and agency in the governance of spatial diversification of port system evolution in Latin America," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 294-307.
    17. Geneviève Zembri-Mary & Virginie Engrand-Linder, 2023. "Urban planning law in the face of the Olympic challenge: Between innovation and criticism of exceptional urban regeneration," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 38(4), pages 369-388, June.
    18. Steven Tufts, 2007. "Emerging Labour Strategies in Toronto's Hotel Sector: Toward a Spatial Circuit of Union Renewal," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(10), pages 2383-2404, October.
    19. Navé Wald & Douglas P. Hill, 2016. "‘Rescaling’ alternative food systems: from food security to food sovereignty," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 203-213, March.
    20. Kevin Fox Gotham, 2014. "Racialization and Rescaling: Post-Katrina Rebuilding and the Louisiana Road Home Program," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 773-790, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:32:y:2008:i:1:p:40-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0309-1317 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.