Supreme Audit Institution and Democracy: The Function of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) of Korea for Democratization

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between bureaucracy and the ­democratization of the Republic of Korea by analyzing the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea (BAI) and how Korea’s unique type of supreme audit institution (SAI) have been involved throughout the democratization process of Korea over the last two decades. Unlike western supreme audit institutions which mainly functioned for financial and performance auditing, Korea’s SAI, BAI bureaucracy, has functioned to reduce corruption, in cooperation with citizen’s participation which gives unique cases for the context of developing countries. The most important finding of this study is that bureaucracy can be an effective vehicle in a country’s political trajectory towards democratization given that the public institutions and agencies have specific traits such as having clear and comprehensive mandates, retaining high ­sensitivity to external needs, and maintaining well-qualified staff with active utilization of Information Technology. The main targets of the analysis are the conditions under which BAI bureaucracy could effectively exert its mandates and successfully fulfill its duties; also the question of how the BAI bureaucracy has facilitated democratization as being the locus of participatory democracy will be addressed.

Citation

Kim, N. (2017), "Supreme Audit Institution and Democracy: The Function of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) of Korea for Democratization", The Experience of Democracy and Bureaucracy in South Korea (Public Policy and Governance, Vol. 28), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2053-769720170000028006