ABSTRACT
The developmental state emerged as a central feature of many of the societies of East Asia (Northeast and Southeast Asia) in the decades after the Second World War. Although the nature of the developmental state’s institutions and policies varied from society to society there were enough similarities to identify them as a distinct, and very successful, East Asian phenomenon.Moreover, the general outlines of the developmental states were maintained for more than a quarter of a century and became thoroughly entrenched in the region. Even when internal domestic pressures resulting from economic success and external pressures created by the end of the Cold War and the advent of globalization began to erode some aspects of the traditional developmental state, key elements remained. The argument of this chapter is that the similarities in the developmental state’s institutions and policies, and the common problems that governments around the East Asian region faced in adapting the extremely successful developmental state approach in the face of domestic and global challenges, provided a significant, common set of experiences from which to embark on region-building initiatives.
