ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to learn from the East Asian experiences selectively and with modifications, instead of accepting or rejecting them totally and unconditionally. To maintain national unity and military readiness, economic growth was considered imperative. A political regime that could handle this situation, called authoritarian developmentalism, was established in a number of countries. This regime pursued economic growth at any cost and thus broke the poverty trap. East Asian growth was generated mainly through competent execution of appropriate policies, rather than spontaneous emergence of some inherent characteristics of the region such as diligence or Confucianism. The chapter presents a case study on South Korea, a country that has already graduated from the authoritarian period, and China and Vietnam, two countries undergoing rapid industrialization and social transformation. South Korea has graduated from authoritarian developmentalism and is moving toward further economic and political transformation.
