Reading Korean Public Administration: An Application of Lacanian Four Discourses

Abstract The article attempts to make a discourse analysis on Korean public administration research for the past half century, in terms of Jacque Lacan's theory of the four fundamental discourses. Of the four discourses, the master discourse and university discourse are dominant, while the analytic discourse and hysteric discourse are marginalized. Previous studies have served or justified the three master signifiers in Korean public administration (the hierarchical political power, capitalism, and the U.S. public administration), with little attempt to challenge and change those master signifiers. Some structured mechanisms, like the hierarchical structure of governance and the tripartite disciplinary network, have contributed to the discourse (re)production. The article argues for making efforts to dissolve those reproduction mechanisms, and for a change of discourses in Korean public administration research.