논문

In accordance with the international trend of decentralization reforms since the
late twenties, the Republic of Korea has also tried to implement several reform
measures with respect to decentralization in the past twenty years. It is,
however, widely recognized that the reform measures have not been successful.

Based on negative evaluations on the reform activities in the past, the
Participatory Government established in February, 2003, has adopted a new
approach to realize decentralization reforms in a visible way.

To make reform plans not only visible but also close with the people, the
Participatory Government published “The Decentralization Reform Plan” which
includes not only concrete reform activities but also a specific time schedule for
implementing these reform activities. The Decentralization Reform Plan is
characterized by seven basic directions and twenty reform tasks with respect to
decentralization. In addition, it is certain that the Participatory Government has
succeeded in promoting reform activities in a quite democratic way in terms of
allowing various groups of people to take part in the policy process of
decentralization.