EN
This paper was prepared for the session ,,Globalization, economic crisis and governance in East Asia" of the 18th World Congress of International Political Science Association, Quebec City, August 1-5, 2000. The purpose of this paper is to review the underlying causes of the economic crisis in Korea. Contrary to the arguments made by developmental state (DS) theorists, the author stated that Korea's economic crisis in 1987 was caused primarily by the institutional and structural defects of the so-called DS. In addition to reviewing the underlying causes of the crisis, the author also evaluates the reform efforts of Kim Dae-jung government's in the last two and half years. He tried to clarify two important components of an alternative mechanism, which could benefit Korea's strive to build economy and a real democratic state, replacing the antediluvian DS mo del adopted by the previous governments.