지방정부 도서정책의 특징과 시사점 －광역시ㆍ도의 도서 관련 조례를 중심으로－

Abstract

The incumbent government of Korea has defined decentralization as an urgent task that cannot be delayed any longer and has announced to transfer authority to the provinces within its ruling period. In this situation, it is expected that the role and authority of the local government will increase. Until recently, most of the island policies in Korea were considered as being solely the central government's task under the ‘Islands Development Promotion Act’. However, since the mid-2000s, local governments have been actively promoting island policies through the relevant ordinances. The purpose of this study is to compare the local governments’ perspectives on the island policies through islands-related ordinances and discuss the implications. As of October 2017, eleven islands-related ordinances were established and put into effect in nine cities and provinces across the country. The characteristics of these ordinances can be summarized as follows. First, the current enacted island-related ordinances are autonomous ordinances for guaranteeing the living rights of residents. Second, no matter the number of settlements and the number of islands, the local government’s island policies are given a lower priority. Third, the majority of the island-related ordinances were established by the local councils rather than by the local governments. Fourth, all of the ordinances consist of supportive forms related to improvement of the settlement conditions on islands. The eleven island-related ordinances can be classified into different types according to their support features: island comprehensive development support, movement support, education support, and basic life support. In fact, the ordinances that support the comprehensive development of islands, the right of movement, the right to education, and the basic living rights are necessary to enable the island residents to enjoy the people’s basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. All local governments holding islands face this need but it is not desirable to direct all governments to establish such ordinances because each local government should consider the policy demands and financial conditions of the local reality. All things considered, it would be desirable for Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, which has the largest number of islands and the largest sedentary population, to take an active approach to establish island-related ordinances.