ABSTRACT
This chapter defines a developmental state as an entity that possesses both infrastructural power and relative autonomy among many other attributes. It argues that the Belgian Congo was a developmental state in contrast to the Congo Free State under King Leopold II (1885–1908) and the postcolonial state. The chapter also develops a few working hypotheses based on the idea that economic development requires the delivery of public goods. However, this delivery is contingent upon the size of veto players and winning coalitions in the polity. The more veto players and the larger the winning coalitions exist in a polity, the more likely the polity will supply enough public goods to sustain economic development. The colonial state provided public goods necessary to sustained economic development in the Belgian Congo in contrast to its two counterparts because it had a large number of veto players and a large winning coalition. However, the argument that the Belgian Congo was a developmental state does not absolve it from being an extractive, racist, coercive, and absolute polity.
