The growth of the non‐government sector in Korea and its relations with the state

This paper hopes to show that the states have come to play an increasingly important role in the growth of NGOs by strategically utilizing their policy tools, including the use of funding, which has an important implications on the relationship between the state and NGOs. Coupled with the dominant state power in the society and NGOs’ relative lack of bargaining power, the imbalance in the relationship between the state and the NGOs has become a serious problem. This is largely due to the tradition of the state‐led industrialization in Korea that places a heavy emphasis on the government's role in the society.