The Arm’s Length Principle in Korean Cultural and Arts Policy: Navigating Discursive Consistency and Structural Inconsistency

This study analyzes, from the perspective of historical-discursive institutionalism, how the arm’s length principle was institutionalized as a policy principle of cultural and artistic policy in Korea, and examines why it persists despite its limited implementation. The discourse on the arm’s length principle led by the president during the People’s Government era was implemented as a policy through a process of coordinated discourse while conforming to the historical-structural conditions and the neoliberal ethos of the times, that favored reduced government intervention, empowered private sector initiative, and reflected the neoliberal ethos of the time. The subsequent Participatory Government institutionally guaranteed the arm’s length principle by establishing the Culture and Arts Committee. This harmonious combination of conditions favorable to the introduction and institutionalization of the arm’s length principle is “discursive consistency.” However, the practical efficacy of the arms-length principle was constrained by the top-down relationship between the government and the Arts and Culture Committee. This was compounded by policy fluctuations subject to the regime’s ideological orientation, as well as by an arts and culture community divided along ideological lines and lacking sufficient negotiating power with the government. The path-dependent legacy of the old system, which hinders the operation of the arm’s length principle, is termed “structural inconsistency.” This contradiction between the discursive consistency and the structural inconsistency of the arm’s length principle became a characteristic of Korean culture and arts support policies. In addition, rather than “replacing” the old framework, the institutionalization of the arm’s length principle led to the “layering” of the new system atop the old, embedding structural contradictions within the governmental apparatus and resulting in adverse effects such as the emergence of the blacklist. The theoretical and policy implications of this study suggest that for the arm’s length principle to be properly established in Korean society, it must have a structural consistency that conforms to its discursive foundation.