Critical Assessment of Development State as a Model For Growth and Development

The growth surge produced by East Asian newly industrialised nations since 1970s has been a central theme of research and debate amongst many social scientists and policy makers. From an “institutionalist” perspective, the idea of “development state” was theorised to explain this “East Asian miracle”. However, it is noted that growth trajectory of many East Asian countries has produced contrasting realities; countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia are facing protests and people’s agitations in favour of participatory and corruption free development. It is assessed that these pro-democracy agitations hit at innate weaknesses of development states and mark a paradigm shift in how “development” is defined and what is perceived of it. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand the theoretical construct of development state, trace reasons for the rise of East Asia as its ideal example and most prominently, to critically assess development states. The paper is broadly divided into four sections: in Section 1, a basic outline of post World War II theories of development is presented; Section 2 deals with the theory of a “development state” and its rise in East Asia; Section 3 provides a critique of the development state as a model of growth as well as development; and lastly; Section 4 is dedicated to finding reasons as to why and how the dramatic growth story of East Asia was written primarily under dictatorial regimes. Further, the paper tries to communicate the need for reinvention of the “development” paradigm in the democracy-deficient East Asia. I conclude that East Asia has to reconcile the perceived antagonism between democracy and development noted in development states, possibly under the motto of “democracy as development”