This study is a case-driven study of a research council system established as an organization to support and promote Government-funded Research Institutes (GRIs) in the field of science and technology (S&T). The GRIs play a pivotal role carrying out research and development works within the National Innovation System (NIS), and have a significant share in the implementation of Korea''s S&T policy. The research council system was established to support and promote the GRIs, and has been in operation for two decades.
The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of policy changes made by each regime since the establishment of the research council system, and to suggest desirable directions of advancement of the system in order to accomplish the goals of the policies, which is to secure the excellence of the GRIs.
This study was conducted by employing two analytical methods. As the first analytical method, literature survey was conducted to examine the process of changing the policies for research council system and the types of the policy outputs from the system in each regime. The analysis performed by using the Paradigm Changes Framework (PCF), the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), and the theory of policy change types showed that the political stream was the major one among the policy streams (multiple streams), and that a window of policy change was opened by the changes in the environmental factors, the basic trend of state affairs, and the S&T policy paradigms triggered by the regime changes, resulting in policy outputs.
The policies prepared as the output of the policy changes were examined according to the types of policy changes. The policy changes of the research council system were analyzed in terms of macroscopic policy environment and policy paradigm change. As the policy environment at the beginning of each regime, domestic and international factors, such as IMF economic crisis, accelerated technological advancement, global economic crisis, and demand for job opportunities, influenced the governmental policy trend of individual regimes. The government paradigms, such as "national prosperity based on S&T", "construction of a center for S&T", "a leap for national advancement", and "realization of creative economy," were reflected in the policies in the field of S&T. Under the influence of these S&T policy paradigms, the research council system was established as a means of making S&T policies, and the system has been changed with the reorganization of the government ministries.
Kingdon''s claims about policy changes were also verified.
First, Kingdon asserted that the biggest influence on policy -making is policy streams consisting of a policy problem stream, a policy alternative stream, and a political stream, among which a political stream triggers the opening of the window of policy change. The analysis performed in the present study also showed that a political stream is the main cause of changes in the research council system and results in policy changes.
Second, the claim that a political stream resulting from a regime change often becomes a trigger was also confirmed.
Third, the importance of leading policy entrepreneurs in policy formation processes was also verified. The anal
ysis of the actual cases showed that the standing of the visible participants having public offices, such as the Planning and Budget Committee (the Chairman of the Administrative Reform Committee), the President, the Presidential Acquisition Committee, and the National Assembly members, played a critical role in each regime. It is notable that, in the government of former President Kim Dae-jung, not only the visible participants but also the chairman of the Administrative Reform Committee, who was regarded as an invisible participant, played a significant role as a policy entrepreneurs.
On the one hand, the factors to policy changes suggested by Hogwood & Peters were identified in terms of the basic characteristics of policy as well as the changes of the laws, organizations, and budget, which represent the degree of government intervention. The types of policy change identified in the present analysis included policy innovation, policy maintenance, and policy succession.
As a second analytical method, a survey was conducted with the employees of the GRIs, who are the subjects of the policies, to find out desirable advancement directions of the research council system for policy change management. The following results were obtained from the survey:
First, as a direction of change in the research council system, a considerable ratio of the respondents wanted a new supporting system for the GRIs, including the transition to "direct government assistance" or “(tentative name) the National Research and Development Institute.”
However, from the perspective of policy consistency or settlement of the system, it may be appropriate to observe the maintenance of the integrated research council for a certain period of time. Meanwhile, the means for implementing policies or the functions of the research council, as a lower-level means, may be adjusted for supplementation.
Second, with regard to the method of coordinating policy measures to achieve policy goals, it was pointed out that GRIs may hardly secure the excellence by their autonomy alone. It is necessary to pursue excellence by combining research autonomy and responsibility together and by establishing policy network connected with external institutions. The result of the survey indicated that the policy goals are hardly achieved with the current operating system of GRIs, which has stressed only the responsibilities over past two decades.
Third, with respect to the method of redesigning the functions of the research council as a sub-policy means, the respondents appreciated the support for the cooperative research (convergence research) works between the GRIs, and the functions of research planning and policy proposal. Among the responsibility items, the respondents significantly appreciated the accomplishment-based evaluation, accomplishment transfer, and management goal approval. With regard to the connectivity items, the respondents significantly appreciated the connectivity with the relevant ministries, with budget-related ministries, and with the industry.