As records of developing countries go, South Korea is one of the great economic success stories of the twentieth century. Starting from a war-destroyed, improvised economy in the mid-1950s, South Korea industrialized rapidly and in 1996 joined the “rich man's club,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. How did South Korea do it? The analyses in the following three chapters emphasize the role of the state, while also taking other variables into account. Chapter 1 looks back to the Japanese colonial period in the first half of the last century for the origins of a modern, but nearly fascistic state that I label cohesive-capitalist, as well as for the beginnings of productivity-based economic growth. The Rhee regime that emerged in South Korea under American influence following the Second World War is analyzed in Chapter 2. It is suggested that Rhee's preoccupation with political survival distracted him from attending to the economy and contributed to a lackluster interregnum. By contrast, Park Chung Hee reestablished continuity with the colonial period by rebuilding an authoritarian and penetrating colonial state, on the one hand, and by reestablishing close links with Japan, on the other hand. Chapter 3 analyzes these critical developments. I argue that South Korea's rapid industrialization under Park Chung Hee and beyond is best understood by simultaneously focusing on the roles played by a growth-oriented, cohesive-capitalist state and by neighboring Japan. The comparative and theoretical implications of this analysis are discussed more fully in the conclusion of the study.