복지사무와 지방자치단체의 역할

Abstract

The Purpose of this study is to analyze the legal correlation of local government between the central government in welfare affairs, consequently to search the legal inter-governmental allocation of functions in welfare administration. Local autonomy is considered the hottest policy issue and justly expected to affect on the general areas of social welfare. Bases on this trend, the decentralization of social welfare service is the desirable ways of the system of function allocations in the inter-governmental welfare administration. The local government has the competence to all affairs in local region through the constitutional guarantee of local autonomy. The public social welfare administration has some features such as accessibility, localities and residents’ participation. Accordingly, the administration of welfare affairs should be considered as the local government’s affairs In conclusion, the present legal criteria for distributing welfare affairs between local government and the central government should be readjusted. The regulations in force stipulating inter-governmental allocation of roles in welfare administration are ambiguous, which comes from the blurring and duplication of governments’ role defined in the Local Government Act and Acts concerning social welfare. But it is obvious that the central government and local government are both responsible for actualization of Welfare State, the adminstration of welfare affairs is characterized a kind of joint affair. Consequently, it is important that the reasonable allocation of functions in welfare administration, which should be coincided with the legal principles of local autonomy and social welfare. Accordingly, this research suggests that the function of the central government providing social welfare service directly should be weakened, namely local government is preferentially empowered to administrate welfare affairs according to the constitutional guarantee of local autonomy. Instead, it is advisable to strengthen the roles and responsibility of the central government supporting finance for welfare service performed by local government and controlling the quality and outcome of the service. That is understood the needs of Constitution through the principle of Welfare State.