Paths to Development in Asia
South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia

Focuses on state structure and formation, arguing that a cohesive state structure is as important as effective industrial policy in developmental success.

Tuong Vu (Author)

9781107618107, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 January 2014

314 pages, 1 b/w illus. 6 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

'Paths to Development in Asia stands out for its attention to history and belief in its importance; for incorporating socialist states into the concept of developmental states, a valuable move; and for its depressing lessons - above all that successful developmental states are born in bloodbaths. It makes clear the contingency of democracy and the importance of a comparative historical approach.' Scott L. Greer, Democratization

Why have some states in the developing world been more successful at facilitating industrialization than others? Challenging theories that privilege industrial policy and colonial legacies, this book focuses on state structure and the politics of state formation, arguing that a cohesive state structure is as important to developmental success as effective industrial policy. Based on a comparison of six Asian cases, including both capitalist and socialist states with varying structural cohesion, Tuong Vu proves that it is state formation politics rather than colonial legacies that have had decisive and lasting impacts on the structures of emerging states. His cross-national comparison of South Korea, Vietnam, Republican and Maoist China, and Sukarno's and Suharto's Indonesia, which is augmented by in-depth analyses of state formation processes in Vietnam and Indonesia, is an important contribution to understanding the dynamics of state formation and economic development in Asia.

Part I. Divergent National Paths of State Development: 1. State formation dynamics and developmental outcomes
2. South Korea: confrontation and the formation of a cohesive state
3. Indonesia: from accommodation to confrontation
4. Rival state formations in China: the republican and Maoist states
5. Vietnam: accommodation and arrested revolution
Part II. Variants of Accommodation: Vietnam and Indonesia Compared: 6. Organizing accommodation in Vietnam: coalition government, united front, and the Leninist party
7. Organizing accommodation in Indonesia: parliament and status-based parties
8. Talking accommodation in Vietnam: nation, the people, and class struggle
9. Talking accommodation in Indonesia: nation, the people, God, and Karl Marx
10. Rethinking developmental states
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]