행정조직법정주의 원칙과 정부조직의 직무범위 개편에 대한 자율성: ｢정부조직법｣과 ｢직제｣의 연결을 통한 입법 자율성 측정

This study examines the tension between the rule of law, represented by administrative organization legalism, and the administrative autonomy of government agencies in redefining their scope of duties. To address this, it introduces the “Jik-bun Autonomy Index” as a novel measure to quantify the legislative autonomy exercised by Jik-je (i.e., decrees on the organization of each government office) in interpreting and reorganizing the role of each government office based on legislative delegation under the Government Organization Act. Using this index, we calculated the autonomy scores of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Government Legislation across the administrations from Syngman Rhee to Moon Jae-in (1948–2021). After establishing these scores, we conducted an exploratory analysis to assess how the president’s political relationship influences legislative autonomy. The findings reveal that the political environment—shaped by evolving organizational demands and presidential influence—affects the balance between adherence to administrative legalism and the exercise of legislative autonomy in organizational restructuring. This study is the first to empirically investigate discretionary reorganization within government organizations, introducing a measure of legislative autonomy derived from Jik-je. Ultimately, it provides valuable insights into how government organizations in Korea, a context characterized by strong presidential power, navigate the interplay between legal constraints and managerial discretion.