ABSTRACT
The notion of the "developmental state" has a long and illustrious lineage in the literature on development in Asia and more broadly in the literature on international political economy and development. It outlines the intellectual linage and debates culminating in the moniker of the "developmental state", the tensions with and within this literature, and more recently questions concerning its continuing relevance in the face of structural changes in the composition of the global political economy. The Asian financial crisis was an important historical marker, highlighting weaknesses in the developmental state model amid structural transformations in the global and regional political economy. In the immediate aftermath of the 1997–1998 crisis various Asian governments commenced governance reforms as part of the bailout packages negotiated with the IMF. These included banking sector and investment liberalization, austerity measures, debt write downs, divesture of specific state-owned enterprise as well as governance (transparency) reforms.
