The Origins of the Developmental State

Abstract

Abstract This chapter interrogates the currently resurgent and frequently demonized concept of “state capitalism” from a deeper historical perspective. It argues that contrary to what often is maintained, the concept can be fruitfully traced back to the strategies and policies of the city-states of Medieval and Renaissance Italy, if not before, and that pertinent aspects of it can be used to explain practically all successful trajectories of development since. The chapter focuses on the political economy of Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany as a foundational case study in this regard and demonstrates how, in spite of “high modernist” critiques, a number of successful developmental states from the Renaissance to the present actually have aligned themselves with James Scott’s ideal of prudent and practical mētis in matters of political economy.