The ‘Developmental State’ and the Newly Industrialised Economies of Asia

Abstract

The renewed interest in the role of the state in economic growth and development has been focused on the four newly industrialised economies (NIEs) of Asia—Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Much of the recent literature tends to crowd these states into an undifferentiated model of the ‘developmental state’. A closer examination reveals significant differences among them in terms of the state's relations to capital, labour, and the external economy that not only defy reduction to a single model but also show that options for moving away from labour-intensive segments of production for world markets vary considerably. Furthermore, as democratisation movements gain voice, and as the transnationalisation of capital from within these economies proceeds, the high degree of autonomy associated with the developmental state is eroding, and its authoritarian uses of power are increasingly being challenged.