New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. xxi, 449 pp. (Tables, graphs, figures.) US$31.00, cloth; free e-book. ISBN 978-3-030-03945-5.
The purpose of this book is to contribute to and make recommendations for how African policy-makers can achieve development in reference to the successful case of South Korea. Overall, the author consistently argues in a proactive voice that even if current impasses have been unfairly caused by external players and circumstances, Africa should strive to achieve development through an industrialization which commonly requires structural and cultural precedents, such as the role of a well-developed state, national identity and so on. In particular, the author argues that the individual’s “development-mindedness” (138) is a key prerequisite to realizing such developmental strategic planning.
The book consists of 6 parts divided into 13 chapters. In Parts 1 and 2, by reviewing past research, the author argues how legacies of colonialization in Africa play a role in the formation of inefficient governance, and how donors have historically failed to meet Africa’s needs. In this sense, the author points out that the current common form of partnership in Africa is the “donor-active type” (56), South Korea having been the most active recipient in the 1960s. In Part 3, Park refreshingly argues that internalizing development to maximize individual ownership should be the first consideration, following development progress under the direction of a market-oriented well-developed state.
In Part 4, Park chronologically traces the trajectory of Korea’s development model and identifies its key successes, economically and socially. The author argues that not only is successful “compressed economic growth” achieved through industrial transformation by the close involvement of governments, but a “can-do spirit” also plays a socially significant role in Korea’s achieving development (199).
Accordingly, Part 5 argues that the application of the Korea model might be possible by pursuing forward-thinking concurrent structural reforms in such areas as land, labour, and capital. By reflecting the reality on the ground in Africa, Park suggests that African governments should effectively allocate resources to attain appropriate-scale development that facilitates progress through self-supportive, industrialized, and rural initiatives to liberalize the economy (299) with appropriate state intervention, while the rule of incentives and punishment (272) has to be implemented for culturally immersive engagement. Part 6 describes how, as long as work ethics are fulfilled—albeit being behind in competition—globalization can provide a new platform for Africa to leap forward. Here, the author suggests that African governments should nurture the “medium bridging [sector]” (388) to facilitate links between traditional and modern industrial sectors, concluding with some ideas on how Africa might reinvent development for itself.
In particular, the book illustrates that the recipe for South Korea’s success is a development mindset based on egalitarianism, participants working in partnership to catch up through a “can-do spirit” (209). Here, Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement) was shown to have played a role in narrowing the gap between urban and rural development by shifting the perceptions of villagers towards a spirit of diligence, self-help, and cooperation to tackle actual issues in a practical manner (235). Citing the Korean experience of making sacrifices for the future, the book continuously suggests that “shaping perceptions, incentives and disincentives (or punishment)” (262) to engage local people is key to preventing development failures in Africa.
Chapter 11 is the most interesting of the book, detailing the author’s personal experience as an ambassador in implementing the Saemaul Undong’s application in Uganda. It was a three-year project (2015–2018) with an investment of US$3 million to replicate the spirit of the Saemaul Undong by establishing the National Farmers Leadership Centre (NFLC) in accordance with Ugandan President Museveni’s visit to the Saemaul Undong Center in Korea in 2013. The goal of this project was to select seven villages to be placed in competition with one another, with the expectation that this would transform the mindset of farm leaders and inspire them to later play roles as leaders of their respective villages and impart experience of agricultural technology to improve incomes. In turn, this movement spread to a total of 190 villages and the top seven villages were rewarded through a process of incentives, or punishments, depending on their success. Describing a memorable event in which over a thousand Saemaul Undong participants gathered with the Ugandan vice president, the author posits that Rwanda and Ethiopia would be the best candidates to replicate the Saemaul Undong.
The book’s strengths are that it not only presents the key points of development discourse, but also a select set of elite Korean government officials’ views on development, which centre on projects in line with a state-led strategy. The author, who spent his formative years in Uganda due to his father’s diplomatic mission and came back to Uganda after 36 years in order to re-establish the Korean embassy, is frank in his impression that Ugandan (and African) development has stalled. Hence, he assertively attempts to change mindsets, chiefly through his unique qualification of understanding both Korean and African perspectives on development.
However, the work tends toward a one-size-fits-all approach, applying a prescription version of the Korean narrative in Africa. Writing about Africa is problematic: its size is equivalent to Europe, the US, China, and India combined, the continent is still not entirely occupied and each state faces unique challenges. Although the author confesses that the “Ugandan example may not be the representative case for the whole Sub-Saharan African region” (321), he cites certain countries, such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Botswana, as possibilities for implementing Korean-style development, while South Africa is seen as an irrelevant case for development. In short, these countries are too carefully cherry-picked by the author based on their pre-existing potential resources to reasonably answer the core development questions posed. Indeed, it is controversial as to whether the extraordinary phenomenon of Korean development could even work in a totally different context.
Moreover, there is insufficient explanation as to why Saemaul Undong in Uganda can be recognized as successful. If the aim of this project was to change the farmer’s mindset, there should be supporting evidence of this, instead of merely referencing official Ugandan announcements and promotional publicity. My own Korean informants who were associated with the NFLC in 2016 had frequent concerns that the Ugandan attendees were deliberately inactive and non-participatory. It is perhaps imprudent to argue that the spirit of Saemaul Undong was successfully implemented in Uganda by simply mapping out its operations.
This book assembles a long series of analytical studies mainly based on secondary data, together with the author’s own experience. It presents a summary of development policies submitted to African policy-makers and aid workers. The work is geared towards a general readership interested in Korea’s development process and African politics in relation to the obstacles to development.
Joonhwa Cho
SOAS University of London, London, United Kingdom