CHAPTER 6 South Korea: Authoritarianism, Democracy, and the Struggle to Maintain Inclusive Development S outh Korea achieved dynamic export-led industrial growth that trans- formed the country from one of impoverished peasants in the 1950s to an urbanized country with a large and prosperous middle class. Korea’s gross national income (GNI), at US$30,180 (PPP), is the highest of all of the four cases (World Bank Indicators 2014b) and the case comes the closest to an inclusive development experience. From 1960 through the late 1970s, the authoritarian regime of General Park Chung-hee 1 pursued policies that produced a rapid reduction in poverty, kept inequality low (figures 6.1 and 6.2), improved the living standards of poor rural dwellers, and promoted industrialization that generated employment. With the achievement of elec- toral democracy in the late 1980s, South Korea’s social welfare regime has expanded along universalistic principles. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, an implicit societal consensus on the importance of both reducing poverty and keeping inequality low has been evident. The case illustrates the salience of a strong and efficacious state in incorporating the rural poor, in leading industrial development and employment genera- tion, and the importance of middle-class support for this policy direction. Nevertheless, since the late 1990s there has been growing differential inclu- sion in terms of access to stable employment and social protection. A unique set of historical circumstances contributed to these positive out- comes. However, it was not a foregone conclusion that these conditions would produce a comparatively high degree of inclusive development. The admin- istration of Syngman Rhee (1948–1961) confronted the devastating impact J. A. Teichman, The Politics of Inclusive Development © Judith A. Teichman 2016