ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, the concept and theories of the developmental state have dominated intellectual thinking on development, thanks largely to Pacifi c Asia’s remarkable development record. As a result, many old issues and themes, fi rst raised and discussed in the two dominant theories of development, have been either reinterpreted or reinforced with new empirical investigations. On the one hand, the concept of the developmental state itself can be seen to refl ect the convergence between modernisation theory and dependency/world system theory over the indispensable role of the state in economic development. On the other hand, the various theoretical perspectives on the nature and conditions of the developmental state have revived old debates on the relative importance of factors such as culture and external environment.
