논문

Some trends entailing a number of different types of reform and movement in
government can be identified recently in Korea. Broadly speaking, the trends can
be divided into three: increasing democratization and local autonomy; more
globalization and unlimited competition; and recovery from the financial crisis and
the need for more sustainable development. These are rooted in the needs of the
Korean people but many of them are triggered by changes in worldwide
circumstances.

In many cases, the Korean government’s policies and systems are being
changed, reformed and modernized responding to the above pressures. Most
researchers agree that the local government borrowing system of Korea is one of
the public systems needing to be reformed (Lee, H. 1998; Lim, S. I., 1997; KRILA,
2000; MOGAHA, 2001a.). However, it is a difficult problem to decide which is the
right direction for this reform and which aspects should be reformed. The above
three trends may imply some suggestions. It is therefore the intention of this
research to examine the present system and to justify and propose reforms.

Local government borrowing is a part of budgeting in local government and, in
general, the process of public budgeting is a process of policy making (Lynch,
1979, pp. 58-59; Steiss, 1975, p. 24 quoting Mosher, 1954, p. 5). As Golembiewski
and Rabin (1983, p. 4) maintained, budgeting is a critical activity in decision
making. So deciding local government borrowing can be said to be an activity of
decision making and, in particular, a kind of policy making because it is done in
a public authority the result of which appears in the shape of public finance
policy.

Policy making needs to be analyzed to see its problems and to look for better
resolutions. The analysis of policy making can be carried out largely on the basis
of the systems approach (Dror, 1971, p. 3; Quade, 1989, pp. 4-6). So the local
borrowing decision making system can be analyzed in viewpoint of policy
science, in particular systems approach. According to Mikesell (1986, p. 25), an
effectively operating system that includes incentives for officials to respond to
public demands is more likely to produce consistently good decisions. So it can
be said that good (or better) decisions are produced from a good decision
making system. For more satisfactory or desirable decisions on local borrowing,
the decision making system needs to be good. To know the ability of a policy
making system in a society, the system should have cannot avoid being
evaluated by measures such as societal values.

The aim of this research is to provide the knowledge about the local government
borrowing decision making system of Korea by analyzing and evaluating the
system from the viewpoint of some main societal values and factors. For this, next
section discusses some values as the measure of evaluating the system and
some factors in the local government borrowing system as the objects to be
evaluated before the analysis and evaluation of the Korean system.