Daegu is popularly known as the nation’s “third city.” In terms of population and economic vibrancy, it was long considered a pillar of strength. As the nation’s Gross National Product climbed in the 1980s, however, the city lost traction. Textile and industry jobs began moving to lesser-developed lands, small-to-midsized firms began to fail, and working families moved to other cities with better-paying and high-prestige jobs. Civic pride fell.
City managers had no answers. Korea has a 5,000 year of strong centralized authority, and Daegu is known as the hometown of three recent presidents. This had been a source of pride. On the other hand, it could be said that despite the advent of true political democracy, “citizens” did not exist for civil servants, only residents to be “administered.” Local mayors “managed” local affairs through top-down bureaucratic approaches. Citizens, with no other means of input but public rallies that too often turned violent after public authorities sought to control the protests, were left out of nearly every policy consideration. When local elections returned in the mid-1990s, the first three elected mayors continued the tradition of “internal” management.
City staffers were very aware that most of their financial resources were dependent upon the informal administrative guidance provided from national government administrators, and therefore had little reason to “localize” administration. The seniority-driven office culture discouraged active discussions of government policy within the city structure of 4700 public servants, let alone with the citizenry. Instead, all attention was focused on implementing defined targets. Mayors developed mega-projects in response to central government growth schemes, so public management addressed issues of revenue generation and operational effectiveness rather than responsiveness to citizens.
In this environment, innovations from the grassroots had no opportunity to be heard. The city stagnated.
Local and nationwide NGOs, many of which had led the civic protests of earlier years, began advocating for a place in the decision-making process. Many of these groups became highly political, identifying recommended candidates for political office and proposing specific legislation or ideals for prospective administrations. The first three elected mayors in Daegu were not re-elected, clear evidence of the voter’s dissatisfaction with the status-quo.
During the 4th mayoral election (in 2006), citizens dissatisfaction with the conflicts between the city bureaucracy and civic society became increasingly obvious. Newly-elected mayor Bum-il Kim accepted the call for public-private collaboration in government: specifically to include non-governmental participation in policy development and city management through a commission of scholars, experts, businessmen, and representatives of civic NGOs. A governance partnership was born.
|