Faces of Green Growth in South Korea: The Dynamics of Environmental Capitalism

This thesis is about the dynamics of Green Growth in South Korea. Green Growth is a form of environmental capitalism with the postulate that environmentally sustainable economic growth is possible through technological innovations, market mechanisms, and fewer emissions. Green Growth emerged as a pathway to address the 2008 global economic and environmental crises, and South Korea became the worlds first test case. While Korea received international recognition as a model Green Growth nation, Green Growth in South Korea is high criticised, especially on the lack of clarity of what it really means and the former Lee Myung-bak Governments market fundamentalist approach. This thesis aims to explore the contested meanings of Green Growth and how it has been utilised by various actors of Green Growth in Seoul. In doing so, I seek to clarify some misconceptions of the term intertwined with involved actors, and to give a human face to existing forms of environmental capitalism.Drawing upon a neo-Polanyian political ecology framework, this thesis examines Green Growth as a process of neoliberalisation of nature and analyses the relationships between the actors. In presenting these, a set of four actors of Green Growth in Seoul is introduced - the President (central Government of South Korea), the Mayor (Seoul City government), the Privileged (policy-related actors), and the Minjung (the people). Based on a field research of 300 surveys, 100 interviews, and 2 focus group discussions conducted in Seoul, four claims are made: For the President, Green Growth is utilised to advance existing forms of neoliberalism. For the Privileged, Green Growth is utilised as a source of power. For the Mayor, Green Growth is utilised as a new form of environmentality. For the Minjung, Green Growth is about the relevance in everyday life. It concludes that Green Growth in South Korea is interpreted through market principles related to individual needs and group agenda. This suggests that marketisation of environment through Green Growth is highly advanced in contemporary Korea, which is a reflection of how neoliberalism is embedded through environmental politics in post-industrial Asia