The Korea Local Administration Review

This paper proposes the fourth sector approach as a new alternative methodof the third sector in promoting regional development. Recently, the fourthsector appears as either a non-profit organization or a public work operated incollaborations with local government and citizens. As a community-leddevelopment approach, the fourth sector becomes recognized as effectivestrategies for regional development. The voluntary citizen participation isessential to the establishment of the fourth sector. In order to stress theimportance of citizen engagement in community development, this studyanalyzes the success case of the fourth sector driven local tourism developmentin Hwacheon County. The case analysis focuses on the foundation andmanagement of the emerging fourth sector organization, the Hwacheon Countyfestival organizing committee, which aims to implement a local festival projectthrough government-citizen collaborations. The analytical results indicate thatthe magnitude and range of regional problems and project feasibility, localgovernment leadership, local government-citizen cooperative atmosphere,concerted goals of organization and participants, citizen participant’s autonomy,and open communication are the main factors leading to the success of thefourth sector. However, insufficient resources and challenges of inducing initialcitizen participation restrict the growth of the fourth sector.
□ Keywords: Regional Development, Local Tourism Development, RegionalDevelopment Paradigm, The Third Sector, The Fourth Sector,Government-Citizen Collaboration in Community Development,Voluntary Citizen Participation