Liberalization, Democratization and Korea's housing welfare regime

South Korea (hereafter Korea) has long been regarded as a productivist welfare regime, reflecting the subordination of the provision of social goods and services to economic development. Korea has experienced considerable liberalization and democratization of its economy and society in recent decades. Although the housing system has become more market orientated as a consequence of the liberalization of the economy and there is a greater emphasis on meeting housing needs associated with greater democracy, Korea's housing system is neither a social democratic housing welfare regime nor a liberal housing welfare regime. Instead the developmentalist state has modified housing policies to respond to the economic challenges of the 1990s and 2000s and to greater democratization, while continuing as a productivist housing welfare regime. This paper identifies the need to revisit key concepts in the welfare regime literature, in particular decommodification and the division of labour between state, market and family in housing delivery to expand the international applicability of welfare regime theory to Asia. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.