ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses following three main issues. The first is what, analytically, constitutes a developmental state drawing upon East Asian country experience. The second concerns whether this is replicable in other countries and feasible given current configurations of power at the global level and the organization of global capitalist production. The third issue concerns the desirability of the model, given the oppression that has, historically, accompanied it. The developmental state model, sometimes also known as the East Asian model, became a contentious point in development debate. In 1960s, post-independence developing states expected to make most economic progress were typically identified as resource-rich countries such as Ghana and Brazil. The largest example of developmental state model of them all – China – has had a spectacular 35-year-plus rise. Many of the elements are there, although size and scope of China's development has meant that there is still room to talk of multiple regional models, some more statist than others, in China today.
