Developing Local Government’s Autonomy under Strong Central Government

• In Event: Local and Community Governance of Environmental Policy

Abstract

Central-local government relationship in South Korea is known to be a strong agent model that the influence of the central government overwhelms over local governments. However, still, some local governments are active and autonomous under the central government’s authority in that they shape local identity, introduce local institutions, and even participate in international networks. This study focuses on the case of Changwon which is a middle-sized municipal government that has noticeably pushed ahead its local environmental policy not only within the city but also in the international networks. What has allowed Changwon to perform its own environmental action under the strong central government? Why has Changwon municipal government tried to impose environmental friendly position to the city itself? How has Changwon become one of the leading environment-friendly cities in the international networks? Above questions can be answered with the concept of local autonomy which is derived from the central-local relationship based on the “Revised-Agent model” that authors suggest. Some scholars have suggested power-dependence model to explain Korean central-local government relationship insisting that there is no fixed vertical or horizontal relationship between the two and resource distribution defines the varying relationship of the time. However, Revised-Agent model tries to refute that the power of the Korean national government still plays an influential role even though local government has capacity or resources. Instead, Revised-Agent model explains that the local government gradually builds its capacity within the relationship with the central government and finally gains autonomy. Authors explain two key elements that strengthen the local autonomy and build capacity in the Revised-Agent model setting; the shared political directivity between the central and local government and the local willingness to implement policy. First, the central government highly supports the local government financially, institutionally and politically when there are mutual similarities of policy directivity. Where the central power absolutely surpasses the local power like in South Korea, the support from the central power offers resources to build up the capacity of local government. The local willingness and incentive to implement the policy are the second element that builds up the capacity of local government. In the process of building capacity, the local government gains its autonomy and releases itself from the subordination to the central government. When the local government builds enough capacity for policy implementation, physical infrastructure and, networks, it doesn’t need the central government’s support anymore and can perform active role in domestic and international networks autonomously. It is the local’s gradual autonomy gain that is clearly distinct from the traditional agent model.
Changwon is the best case to show how the Revised-Agent model can be applied to the Korean local government. It was highly self-motivated to be the city of environment. It has framed itself as the environmental capital city since the early 2000s because the city wanted to reshape its identity from the heavy industrial city to an environment-friendly city. The local government implemented several environmental policies such as shared bike system and carbon reduction scheme. The central Lee Myungbak government in the late 2000s which set green growth as the national policy goal supported Changwon because they shared a similar policy goal. With the support of the central government, Changwon was able to gain the local capacity for policy implementation, physical infrastructure and, networks. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands that Changwon hosted in 2008 shows both local’s willingness and central’s support. The years of building capacity has increased Changwon’s autonomy to pursue active role in domestic and international level. The local government has become more recognized city even after the cutback of central government’s support. Moreover, Changwon is now one of the active local governments in the inter-local governmental environmental networks such as C40 and ICLEI. To sum up, even under the strong central government like in South Korea, local governments are contradictorily able to develop their capacity and autonomy to act locally and globally when two elements – local willingness and shared political goal between local and central government – are satisfied.

Authors

• Hansaem Kim, Yonsei University

• Sohyeon Ryu, Yonsei University