[EAI Working Paper] Changes in Perceptions of National Vision and Government Role, and Government Trust among Koreans

Editor's Note

The East Asia Institute (EAI) has conducted the <Korean Identity> survey four times over the past 15 years (2005-2020). As the third report in the "Korean Political World: Political Polarization, Democracy, and Government" working paper series based on the 2020 survey results, we are publishing a working paper co-authored by Professor Park Hyung-joon of Sungkyunkwan University and Dr. Ju Ji-ye of the Institute for Convergent Social Studies at Dankook University. The survey on the desired national image revealed that from 2000 to 2020, the Korean public consistently ranked 'economic growth' and 'economic stability' as the most important goals. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, humans have a hierarchical structure of needs, from the most basic survival needs to self-actualization needs, and must satisfy lower-level needs before moving to the next level. The fact that the Korean public has long prioritized economic growth and stability signifies a state of deficiency where survival needs have not yet been met. The author points out that the role and function of the state exist to fulfill these public needs, and thus, the public wants the state to address these priorities first. Interestingly, 'safe society' was ranked third, which corresponds to the safety needs, the next level after the most basic survival needs in Maslow's hierarchy. Similarly, creativity, a higher level in Maslow's hierarchy, was ranked lowest in this survey.

※ The following is the introduction to this working paper. Please refer to the attached file above for the full text.

I. Introduction

National vision refers to the desirable future state of a nation. With the launch of each government, a national vision, national goals, or national agenda, along with strategies and tasks to achieve them, are presented, and the government operates based on these (Park Hyung-joon et al., 2013). For these national visions and national goals to be effective, they must reflect the demands of the times and public opinion (Im Joo-young & Park Hyung-joon, 2015).

While national visions have evolved to reflect the changing times, economic growth, the realization of democracy, a unified Korea, and the promotion of public welfare have been presented as core national goals by all governments. Notably, the Kim Dae-jung administration proposed a creative cultural nation, the Roh Moo-hyun administration balanced development, the Lee Myung-bak administration a nation of talent, the Park Geun-hye administration safety and integration, and the Moon Jae-in administration an inclusive nation, reflecting the characteristics of their respective eras. To achieve national goals aimed at solving social problems, each administration selects numerous national tasks and prioritizes their achievement during its term. However, various public values often conflict in the resolution of social issues. Specifically, value conflicts arise between growth and distribution, government-led initiatives and expanded market intervention versus market-friendly policies, environment and economic growth, individual freedom and social order, and the growth of innovative industries versus consideration for the socially vulnerable (Rosenbloom and Carroll, 1990). Recently, it has become crucial to accurately understand public preferences and perceptions to address these wicked problems (Im Joo-young & Park Hyung-joon, 2015). If national tasks and goals are unilaterally selected and pursued without understanding public perception, trust in the nation and government will decline (Seo In-seok & Park Hyung-joon, 2012).

According to the OECD Government at a Glance 2019, South Korea's government trust stood at 39%, ranking 22nd out of 36 countries. Despite extensive publicity from the government at the time claiming it was the best performance ever (Ministry of the Interior and Safety Press Release, 2019), public trust in the government remained at only 39%.

This chapter aims to present the changes and characteristics in public perceptions by analyzing the long-term national goals and state values preferred by Koreans since 2000, the role of government accordingly, and finally, the public's trust in formal and informal participants in state governance when making policy decisions, based on the results of the 'Korean Identity' surveys conducted four times in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020.

■ Author: Park Hyung-joon_ Professor of Public Administration and Graduate School of Governance at Sungkyunkwan University, and Director of the Institute for Governance Evaluation at Sungkyunkwan University. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Florida State University and has served as Director of the Governance Center at the East Asia Institute, a Research Fellow at the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), and a board member of the Asian Association for Public Administration (AGPA) and the Asia Policy Network. His main research areas include policy processes and change, collaborative governance, government regulation, policy analysis and evaluation, institutional design and policy design, policy networks, and government innovation. His recent publications include "The Dynamics of an Interorganizational Emergency Management Network: Interdependent and Independent Risk Hypotheses" (2019) and "Do Political Similarities Facilitate Interlocal Collaboration?" (2018), as well as edited volumes such as "Solving Social Problems Together: Cases of Conflict and Cooperation" (co-edited) and "Conditions for Presidential Success in 2017" (co-edited).

■ Author: Ju Ji-ye_ Research Professor at the Institute for Convergent Social Studies, Dankook University. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the Graduate School of Governance, Sungkyunkwan University, and received the Junior Asian Scholarship Award at the annual conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in 2018. Her main areas of interest include policy change processes, policy analysis, policy design, citizen participation and public deliberation, regulatory policy, education policy, cultural policy, and animal protection policy. Her recent papers include "A Study on the Policy Feedback Mechanism of Citizen Participation in the Policy Change Process of Animal Protection Policy" (2019), "Analysis of Citizen Sentiment on Framing and Policy Narratives in the Public Deliberation Process of Nuclear Regulation Formation" (2019), "A Study on Policy Narratives in the Nuclear Power Policy Decision-Making Process: Focusing on the Advocacy Coalition in the Gori Nuclear Power Plant Units 5 and 6 Public Deliberation" (2020), and "Searching for the Passive Dimension: Toward a Typology of Citizen Participation" (2020).

■ Managed and Edited by: Seo Ju-won, EAI Research Fellow

Inquiries: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 206) jwseo@eai.or.kr

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