The concept of the developmental state is widely believed to be the conceptual background of state policies and state institutional arrangements leading to the unprecedented developmental achievements among the so-called late developers of the Asian continent. Countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan became developed nations within a short period of time in the second half of the 20th century. Especially remarkable is the case of Korea, whose gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the 1950s was comparable to some impoverished postcolonial states in sub-Saharan Africa. Nonetheless, the concept is often portrayed as only a historically justifiable phenomenon that cannot relate to contemporary conditions, mostly due to the accelerating pace of the process of globalisation, which, in effect, is believed to render the significance of state policies minimal.

Nevertheless, the ‘relatively fresh’ significant developmental achievements of Japan, Korea and Taiwan, broadly considered to have been developmental states, should make us wonder about the applicability of the developmental state model contemporarily, especially in view of their neighbour, China’s, recent developmental achievements, as well as in view of the necessities of those countries whose recent efforts at systemic changes are aimed at the acceleration of socio-economic development. Such a group may well constitute postsocialist countries, as the increase in developmental dynamics seemed to be one of the main reasons behind the commencement of their transformation. Moreover, as it will be argued in this study, post-socialist states are a natural selection group for potentially developmental states due to various systemic and institutional legacies. First, however, one needs to discuss the features of the DS concept and its contemporary applicability. The world has changed since the peak hour of East Asian successes. Did this change lead to an effective demise of the model, or are we perhaps in desperate need to resurrect it and yet again draw some conclusions for contemporary circumstances?

The overview

The concept of the developmental state in scholarly literature seems to be examined from various angles; addressed through its historical and ideological background and necessary preconditions, as well as through social, political and economic features, state policies, external conditionality, and institutional arrangements.