ABSTRACT


A Study on the Influential Factors of Policy Change:

The 4th Civil Service Pension Reforms



Shin, Moung-joo
Department of Public Administration
Graduate School, CatholicKwandong University
Directed by Prof. Park, Keun-hoo


The purpose of this research is to establish the following research problems based on the case of the 4thcivil service pension reforms, and by examining this case empirically, to determine the factors that influenced policy change.

A summary of the analytic results follows the research questions as indicated below.

First, how did the policy changes for the 4th civil service pension reforms occur, and what were their characteristics?

?he reason that the 4th civil service pension reforms came to receive attention in society was because of the development of policy issues in the social environment. Analysis showed that the issue began with concerns regarding fairness connected to the civil pension system owing to such issues as i) problems that occurred with the plan to change the Basic Old-Age Pension Act into the Basic Pension Act and combine it with the National Pension Service, which was initially a presidential election pledge of President Park Geun-hye, ii) retraction of the original bill to have government absorb the shortfalls of the National Pension Service, and iii) controversysurrounding increasing National Pension Service insurance fees. The interest in the civil service pension system following these issues led to the seriousness of the financial problems that needed to be confronted, and this became the focus of gaining justification for the reforms. In this situation, our analysis shows that the issue of civil service pension reforms entered the public forum and led to the beginning of policy change.

Second, what are the environmental factors that affected the process of policy change in the 4th civil service pension reforms, who were the main participants that appeared in the policy environment, and through what means did policy change occur?

?nalysis showed that the social environment factor was the fact that accrual rates are increasing and the dependent population decreasing due to the aging society/low birth rates. The economic environment factor was the fact that owing to this issue a major crisis occurred in national financial stability as the government covered the shortfalls in the civil pension with the government’s revenue-sharing system. The political environment factor was the fact that this occurred in the period when power was being transferred to the Park Geun-hye administration.
In addition, according to analysis based on developments in each period, it was shown that the participant who had the most important role in the 4th civil pension reforms was President Park Geun-hye. As the push for reform was underway in the ruling party, the opposition party, related parties in the government, civil servant groups, and civic groups all tried to change it according to their own interests the analysis suggeststhat in this conflict they were directly and indirectly influenced by popular opinion and the people.

Third, what factors led to policy change occurring in such a short time period compared to previous reforms, and how did those factors affect policy change?
?ompared with previous civil pension reforms, the process of change in the 4th civil service pension reforms took theshortest amount of time. According to the results of the analysis, reform was urgently required because of issues related to the government’s revenue-sharing provision caused by the civil service pension system. In addition to the strong will of the president, aspects that gave the reforms momentum within a short period included the fact that it was the third year of power for President Park Geun-hye who faced no elections that required a popular vote, the removal of corrupt officials had been highlighted because of the April 16, 2014 Sewolho ferry disaster, the influence of the National Assembly Advancement Act, the Sung Wanjong list scandal, the connection with reforms in the National Assembly Act, and so on; these factors led to the civil service pension reforms being pursued within a set time frame.

Fourth, what effects did the factors that triggered policy change in the 4th civil service pension reform have in terms of justification, realization, and efficiency during the policy change?

?Analysis of the policy (justification) was shown to be the focal point at the beginning of the 4th civil service pension reforms the intensity of the focus on it was shown to be higher than either strategy or tactics. Analysis of the dimension of strategy (realization) was shown to be most intense during the period when reform was underway as this was the period that required progressive and rational measures to create a reform plan that was practical. Analysis with regard to tactics (efficiency) was the most intense in the confirmation period during the process of deciding the most efficient reform plan by describingthe detailed contents of the planned civil service pension reforms.

?his research used the dimension of policy analysis as its frame of reference however, in actual politics, aspects of policy, strategy, and tactics can overlap. While the overlap was considered in this research, one of the limitations of this study is that it did not consider these factors in more detail. In addition, while analysis was conducted until the end of the policy changes in the 4th civil service pension reforms, the following analysis on the execution and evaluation of the policies after they had been decided is a topic that must be researched in order to be able to predict the entire process of policy development in situations of policy change, such as the civil service pension reforms.