Childcare and Maternity Protection Reforms in Korea: Policy-Layering Features in Comparative Perspectives.

The article shows transformative changes in Korea's family policies over the last two decades. It suggests that the reform has been mainly adopted in the form of childcare and maternity protection delivered as a result of state action in addressing a declining fertility rate. By using the concept of policy-layering with the process-tracing of historical methods, this article provides a case study that contributes to explaining the mechanisms of policy change and development in newly industrialized countries like Korea over welfare regime theories. It thereby shows the limit of typological thinking, while providing policy implications and lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]