Introduction
In 2004, the Ministry of Environment in the Korean Government revised and announced
the Rule of Air Quality Protection Act, which was initially passed in 2001, in order to decrease
the standard of diesel automobile emission. For the purpose of revising the Act, many
stakeholders, including the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and
Energy, the Automobile Enterprise Association, and nonprofit organizations, took part in the
processes of revision. In the early stage of the revising process, the Korean Government’s
agencies supported automobile companies’ assertion that the standard of diesel emission has to
be decreased in order to improve and develop the economic situations in Korea. However,
nonprofit organizations and citizens did not accept the government’s proposal because it finally
leads to make a worse air quality. Representatives of each nonprofit organization noted that they
opposed the initial proposal that might be attempted to decline the air standards. Nonprofit
organizations held meetings with the governments and the automobile enterprises together. They
also tried to let citizens know the issues through public hearings. Finally, all stakeholders
negotiated and then concluded the negotiating point between two proposals that were suggested
by both automobile companies and nonprofit organizations.
This case is one of examples that the Korean society has been opened and democratized
that all stakeholders can participate in public policy making processes. To be sure, we could not
imagine the stakeholders’ participation in the processes of policy-making or implementation, if
we were in South Korea in the 1970’s. From this case, we start this research with a question
whether democratization is beneficial or harmful for environmental outcomes. Especially, we
choose Asian countries as units of analysis.
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Convention