The Political Economy of Developmental States in East Asia: South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan

247 Pages·2021·2.531 MB·English

by  Tian He

The Political Economy of
Developmental States in East Asia
South Korea, Singapore
and Taiwan
Tian He
The Political Economy of Developmental
States in East Asia
“Following the distinguished tradition of research on developmental states, Tian
He presents a cogent explanation for how these states have evolved in South
Korea,Taiwan,andSingapore,andwhythistransformationhasdifferedforthem
due to their respective industrial structure and politics of democratic transition.
This book provides a persuasive synthesis and should be read by all students of
rising political economies.”
—Steve Chan, College Professor of Distinction, University
of Colorado, Boulder, US
“TianHehasproducedatheoreticallyinnovativebookthatmakesasignalcontri-
bution to the analysis of East Asian political economy. The central puzzle of this
book is why the transformation of the developmental state proceeded so differ-
ently within East Asia. It is based on detailed and theoretically informed case
studies of Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. His complex and sophisticated
model is organized around two key interacting explanatory variables: the nature
of the democratic transition and the industrial structure of a political economy.
It is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand this subject fully.”
—Cal Clark, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Auburn University, US
Tian He
The Political
Economy
of Developmental
States in East Asia
South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan
Tian He
Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Suzhou, China
ISBN 978-3-030-59356-8 ISBN 978-3-030-59357-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59357-5
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Acknowledgements
This book grew out of years of research into the East Asian model of
state-led development and democratic transition. Without the generosity
of several individuals and institutions, I would not have been able to
turnmyinterestsintoaPh.D.project,finishthedoctoraldissertationand
subsequently transform it into this book.
ThisjourneybeganwhenIwasamaster’sstudentatKingstonUniver-
sity in England. I would like to express my gratitude to Paul Auerbach,
who first sparked my interest in Asian developmental states, patiently
guided me through my first research project on East Asian political
economy and then pushed me to pursue my Ph.D. Most of the research
for this book was done during my Ph.D. studies at the University of
CanterburyinNewZealand.Duringmytimethere,Iwasveryprivileged
to be close to a group of fine scholars working in Asia. I am particu-
larly thankful for the wisdom of Alexander Tan, who was instrumental
in shaping the theoretical foundation of this book and keeping me on
the right track. Anne-Marie Brady offered consistent encouragement and
providedusefuladvicethroughouttheresearchandwritingprocess.James
Ockey and Naimah Talib also provided help on various occasions during
my time at Canterbury.
I am also beholden to the many individuals who, during my field
research trips to Singapore and Taiwan, graciously shared their obser-
vations on the transformation of the state’s economic policy-making. I
would like to acknowledge a few in particular. In Taiwan, Yi-Ren Dzeng,
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Jenn-Hwan Wang and Yu-Shan Wu contributed extremely helpful views
on the transformation of the Taiwanese developmental state over the
past two decades. In Singapore, Alan Chong, Gillian Koh, Donald Low,
Alexius Pereira and Tan Ern Ser helped me expand my knowledge of the
Singaporean developmental state. These individuals’ insights were crucial
for building the theory of this book.
Sincethecompletionofmydoctoraldissertation,severalreviewershave
read and commented on sections of my work, helping me to sharpen
my theoretical arguments and improve my empirical analysis. The two
anonymous manuscript reviewers at Palgrave Macmillan provided excel-
lent feedback to improve the book in its final version. The final stage
of this book was completed at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. I am
extremelythankfulforthestimulatingintellectualenvironment,aswellas
the advice and assistance of my colleagues at the XIPU Institution, as I
finalisedthebook.Finally,IthankRachelRapaport,whohasbeenagreat
companion and dedicated editor throughout the preparation of the final
book manuscript.
Contents
1 Unravelling an East Asian Puzzle 1
An Overlooked East Asian Puzzle 1
Revisiting the Developmental State Model and Its
Transformation 5
The Theory: Economic Interests, Democratic Transition
and Policy Constraints 14
The Structure of the Theory 32
Research Design and Case Selection 36
Organisation of the Book 41
References 43
2 The Rapid Transformation of the Developmental State
in South Korea 49
How Elite Survival Shaped South Korea’s Industrial
Structure 50
Elite Decisions, South Korea’s Authoritarian Reinforcement
and Speedy Democratic Transition 58
The Formulation of the State’s Strategic Visions in South
Korea 67
Policy Constraints from Business Elites in South Korea 74
Policy Constraints from Organised Labour in South Korea 82
Summary of the Chapter 89
References 90
vii
viii CONTENTS
3 The Non-Transformation of the Developmental State
in Singapore 99
How Elite Survival Shaped Singapore’s Industrial Structure 100
Elite Decisions and Non-Democratic Transition in Singapore 109
The Formulation of the State’s Economic Visions in Singapore 119
Policy Constraints from Business Elites in Singapore 127
Policy Constraints from Organised Labour in Singapore 136
Summary of the Chapter 144
References 145
4 The Two-Phase Transformation of the Developmental
State in Taiwan 155
How Elite Survival Shaped Taiwan’s Industrial Structure 156
Elite Decisions and Taiwan’s Two-Stage Democratic
Transition 163
The Formulation of the State’s Strategic Visions in Taiwan 172
Policy Constraints from Business Elites in Taiwan 180
Policy Constraints from Organised Labour in Taiwan 189
Summary of the Chapter 197
References 198
5 Understanding the Transformation
of the Developmental State 207
Revisiting the Theory of the Transformation
of the Developmental State 209
Explaining the Non-Transformation of the Developmental
State in China 216
Re-Examining the Transformation of the Developmental
State 223
Concluding Remarks: Understanding the Transformation
of the Developmental State 225
References 227
Index 231
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 Transformation of the state policy mechanism 34
Fig. 1.2 The structure of the main argument in this study 35
Fig. 4.1 KMT’s electoral dominance and decline, 1980–95 (Source
Clark and Tan [2012: 57]) 169
ix
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Democratic mobilisation patterns and elite choices 22
Table 1.2 Variations in the types of economic interest groups 30
Table 1.3 The process of the state’s transformation in three
comparative cases 40
Table 2.1 Combined sales of top ten chaebols as percentage
of Gross National Product (GNP), 1974–1984 58
Table 2.2 Thevoteshareofpoliticalelitesinthe1985SouthKorea
Legislative Election 66
Table 3.1 Domestic and foreign companies’ share in Singapore’s
manufacturing 108
Table 3.2 GLC’s contribution to Singapore’s GDP 109
Table 4.1 Contribution of SMEs to export-Led growth in Taiwan
and South Korea, 1982–90 (percentage) 162
Table 4.2 Creation of financial holding companies in Taiwan
in the 2000s 187
xi