Varieties of Developmental States

Abstract

The “developmental state” discourse has opened up fruitful scholarly explorations of alternatives to neoliberal capitalism, but its scope has been somewhat narrow and geographically limited. As a remedy, I propose a broadening of the “developmental state” concept to include three varieties of non-Western states on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In these states, political leaders actively developed an initial “comparative advantage” in either (a) human capital; (b) natural capital; or (c) social capital that allowed the state to invest the returns-to-capital into a broader state-led development strategy to satisfy most citizen’s basic human needs. I illustrate these three different pathways via the relatively successful experiences of Singapore, Kuwait, and Costa Rica.