Responsive Democracy

Increasing State Accountability in East Asia

Jeeyang Rhee Baum

Publication Year: 2011

Responsive Democracy is a pioneering contribution to the political analysis of administrative law in East Asia. Both political scientists and legal academics will greatly benefit from the author's in-depth analysis of the intersection between presidential power and administrative law in the contrasting cases of South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. ---Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University Law School "Baum's book is a very significant contribution because it focuses on a part of the world that has often been neglected in studies of democratization. It focuses attention on the nuts and bolts of what we mean by democratic consolidation and responsiveness. Indeed, if more political science were written with this clarity, we would all enjoy reading the literature much more!" ---Joseph Fewsmith, Boston University Under what conditions is a newly democratic government likely to increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to its citizens? What incentives might there be for bureaucrats, including those appointed by a previously authoritarian government, to carry out the wishes of an emerging democratic regime? Responsive Democracy addresses an important problem in democratic transition and consolidation: the ability of the chief executive to control the state bureaucracy. Using three well-chosen case studies---the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan---Jeeyang Rhee Baum explores the causes and consequences of codifying rules and procedures in a newly democratic government. In the Philippines, a president facing opposition has the option of appointing and dismissing officials at will and, therefore, has no need for administrative procedure acts. However, in South Korea and Taiwan, presidents employ such legislation to rein in recalcitrant government agencies, and, as a consequence, increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness. Moreover, as Baum demonstrates by drawing upon surveys conducted both before and after implementation, administrative procedural reforms in South Korea and Taiwan improved public confidence in and attitudes toward democratic institutions. Jeeyang Rhee Baum is a Research Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Published by: University of Michigan Press

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Acknowledgments

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pp. ix-xii

1 | Introduction

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pp. 1-18

From 1987 to 1995, South Korea’s democratically elected government built dams along the country’s major rivers and undertook other major public works projects without consulting anyone affected—not the local industrialists, not the local farmers, not even the local governments. As a former...

2 | The Logic of Intrabranch Delegation

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pp. 19-36

Over the past two decades, many of the world’s fledgling democracies have joined long-standing democracies in implementing administrative procedure laws. Administrative procedural openness is important for democratic consolidation because it reduces arbitrariness and increases predictability in government. It also reduces corruption by increasing bureaucratic...

3 | Deregulation, Bureaucratic Conflict, and Passage of the South Korean Administrative Procedure Act

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pp. 37-56

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) viewed the Korean administrative procedure act (APA) as a tool for enhancing transparency and con‹dence in administration and protecting citizen rights and interests. In essence, the OECD implicitly described APAs as a mechanism for enhancing democratic responsiveness, recognizing-...

4 | Decline of Kuomintang Dominance, Bureaucratic Conflict, and Passage of the Taiwan Administrative Procedure Act

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pp. 57-79

Citizens’ ability to challenge administrative policies is a crucial aspect of increasing state accountability. Taiwan, like Korea, has instituted such opportunities for its citizens, thereby enhancing the responsiveness of their democratic institutions....

5 | Cleaning House: Administrative Procedures and Patronage Politics in the Philippines

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pp. 80-104

In chapter 1, I asserted that administrative procedural reform may be an important contributing factor but is not necessarily indispensable for the emergence of responsive democracy. Korea and Taiwan illustrate two cases in which presidents faced delegation problems within the executive branch that caused them to acquiesce to an administrative procedural act...

6 | Sunset Laws and the Acceleration of Regulatory Reform in South Korea

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pp. 105-117

Since the passage of the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in the United States, scholars have sought to understand the rationale for various procedures that executive agencies must follow. How newly elected presidents go about restructuring their bureaucracies can shape not only the development of democracy in general but also the nature and extent of...

7 | Administrative Reform and Public Attitudes toward Democratic Institutions in South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines

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pp. 118-144

Administrative procedure acts (APAs) change the decision-making process within bureaucracies, thereby creating new winners and losers in society. To the extent that average citizens are among the winners, one important indirect effect of APA-like laws seems likely to be enhanced public trust and con‹dence in the civil service, the part of government primarily ...

8 | Transparency, Participation, and Democratic Responsiveness

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pp. 145-152

Although the twentieth century witnessed the birth of more than 85 democracies, the extent of democratic consolidation across these countries varies greatly (Geddes 1999; Huntington 1991). The U.S. Department of State expresses its commitment to democracy “until all the citizens of the world have the fundamental right to choose those who govern them through an ongoing civil process that includes free, fair, and transparent...

E-ISBN-13: 9780472025732
E-ISBN-10: 0472025732

Page Count: 216
Illustrations: 13 Figures, 20 Tables
Publication Year: 2011