Global South 2007-8

Lecture 6: November 2, 2007Developmental State

Courtesy: http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/pol387/koreadev.ppt#256,1,Development in South Korea

Golden Era of Growth

Park: 1961-79

year per capita GDP (US$) export (US$)1962 87 56.7 million1980 1,503 17,500.0 million

2001 8,918 150,440.0 million

Questions

How did this growth occur? Why did it not occur anywhere else? Is this growth = development

What explains growth

Kay: Relationship between agrarian and

industrial structure Nature of technological change Pattern of structural change Intersectoral resource flow

Is anything missing in this analysis?

Historical structures (Cox)

Social forcesLand relations?

Industrial capitalism?

Forms of state Democracy/dictatorship

“developmentalism”

World OrdersHegemonic/non-hegemonic

How did South Korea grow?

Main views Export-led growth State interventionism Nature of state intervention: what role

did authoritarianism play?

Japanese colonialism (1910-45)

Colonial educational system Japanese language and culture

Occupation of land Industrialization and Modernization

Independence

1948 August, Republic of Korea established

1948 September, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea established Premier: Kim Il-Sung

President Rhee Syngman (1948 - 60)resigned amid popular protests

1961 military coup by Park Chung-Hee

What did Park do?

Land reform Confiscate wealth Envisioned a transformation from

merchant capital to industrial capital Established a bureaucracy and an

‘autonomous’ developmental state

Importance of Land Reform

What are land reforms? What are the differences between

land reforms in Latin America and East Asia? What is the author’s main argument

about land reforms?

Difference between East Asia and Latin America

“squeeze” agriculture without stifling growth

How? By curbing the power of the landlords

In Latin America this was not possible Labour that was pushed out of land

did not get work

What is state autonomy?

The ability of the state to define its own goal (in most cases modernization/state capitalism)

The ability of the state to implement this set of goals despite opposition from particular interest groups

“Developmental state”

The opposite of a “liberal” state, where the state is not a direct participant in the economy or society. It performs certain minimal roles. Its goals derive from the goals of the society.

A developmentalist state on the other hand actively shapes society, social relations and social goals.

Developmental state

Centerpiece is the bureaucracy which actively adopted goals and strategies. It then allocates resources and roles to different social classes to fulfill these objectives. In this case rather than the state reflecting demands of social classes, social classes are shaped according to state goals

Ingredients of a developmental state

Autonomy Coordination Authoritarian political structure Weak social formations

Strategies of developmentalism

IndustrializationStrategiesLand reformExportsImport substitution Skill development High rates of labour absorption

India

Growth but not ‘development’ What does the author mean?

India (2)

Conventional wisdom – India had no growth or the ‘hindu rate of growth’ before the nineties

Author’s suggestion: earlier growth is underestimated and recent growth is exaggerated

What is the major difference

India (3)

The major difference lies in the nature of the state-capital relationship

Earlier phase: development of capitalism through intervention

Recent phase: realignment of state policy to accommodate maturity of industrial capitalism