This is my thesis that I explored the dynamic process and peculiarities of Korean welfare politics during the Kim Dae-Jung government of 1998-2003, which was the first administration to come to power through a peaceful turnover of political power. To this end, the research focused on the policymaking processes of National Health Insurance and National Pension reforms during that period. The thesis analysed these welfare reforms from a more rigorous theoretical framework in order to uncover the key characteristics of welfare politics in Korea. In particular, the key role played by stake challengers including civil organisations in such policymaking process was addressed in detail because these Non-Governmental organisations emerged as an influential player against the established stakeholders representing vested economic and political interests. In contrast to the situation in many western democracies, the influence of political parties in the reform process was minimal and those parties did not play any significant part in the debates and conflicts surrounding the welfare reforms during the Kim Dae-Jung era. It was noteworthy fact that stake-challengers coalition led by civil organisations was able to overcome stakeholder coalition’s interests and objections to win the battle for health insurance integration and public pension reforms.
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