정부조직법에 근거한 강력한 행정부의 대두와 대통령비서실의 역할: 제1공화국을 중심으로

Abstract

In the twentieth century, the state with the presidential political system has experienced the weakening of the legislative branch and the increasingly concentration of power into the executive branch. Korea, which has evolved to be a powerful executive-centered state, is not the exception to this phenomena. The prior studies have focused and reviewed from the Third Republic to illuminate the power transition to the executive branch and the presidential power concentration. The power transition and concentration during the First and the Second Republic have been overlooked by the related academic circles. This study elaborates from the First Republic with the emphasis on the Government Organization Laws in order to illuminate how the First Republic has achieved the presidential power concentration and the evolution of the powerful executive branch from the nation building process amongst the national identity crisis and the total destruction of the economic basis by the Korean War. Also, the role of the Presidential Office is reviewed together in the transition of the executive branch. In process of making the powerful presidential government organization during the First Republic, it is noticed that the Presidential Office had played a limited role only as the political support staff for president's efforts and political goal. Accordingly, its organizational size was not huge nor complex unlike today's presidential office. In addition, it is observed that President Singman Lee himself did not view the presidential office as the appropriate medium to exercise political power and supervise other executive organizations. He regarded that enhancing president's direct control over executive organizational strata is the foundation for the establishment of true executive-centered presidential political system.