Beyond East Asian welfare productivism in South Korea

The Korean experience of welfare development since the mid-1990s raises various issues for the debates on East Asian welfare regimes. By analysing the recent changes in state welfare - the emergence of civil society-led welfare politics - this article argues that Korea has entered a phase of welfare state consolidation. Based on the analysis, 'the productivist welfare capitalism' argument will be critically examined to contend that due to its theoretical weaknesses, the perspective fails to capture the nature of the recent developments in the Korean welfare system, and thus loses its theoretical usefulness in interpreting East Asian social policy.