Comparative political economy of east and south asia : a critique of development policy and ... management

This study of the comparative political economy of East and South Asia is a product of my long association as an academic interested in research and teaching in the field of Third World (TW) development. I regard this book as a contribution to the field of development policy and management and I hope it will enhance the understanding of the political economy of the region. This work, like my earlier work, reaffirms my position on the role of the state in the economy. It is a position that is unfashionable in an era of neo-classical market dominance and an issue over which policy-makers and academics are ideologically divided. In my view the state and market ought to be complementary, not competitive. Among academics working on TW development, particularly East Asia, the complementarity view is becoming widely acceptable. Comparative studies of the political economy of two regionseconomically developed East Asia and politically developed South Asia -are seen as outcomes of their unique historical experience. Comparing two diverse regions has been a difficult task, forcing me to be selective in the range of countries covered. I have chosen to focus on Taiwan and Korea in East Asia and India in South Asia, countries on which abundant primary and secondary material is available. In working on this study I have gained insight into the political and administrative systems in these countries and their problems in achieving developmental objectives. Successful achievement of development depends essentially on the quality of policies and their effective implementation. In any academic research one aspires to adopt a balanced and critical view. Such a view is difficult to achieve in a comparative study involving two regions and the perspective adopted is likely to suffer from imbalances or even unconscious bias resulting from the author's personal circumstances. If that imbalance has crept in, it can only be seen as human. Opportunity to receive feedback from academics working in similar fields is something I look forward to. An academic in this part of the world has to envy the collaborative academic culture which is so much a part of the North American scene. This work has been meticulously edited by my wife Iris. Thanks are due to her and to my daughters Arati and Antara -the former for editing two chapters and the latter for typing two of them. Brenda Bongiovanni of the School of Business and Public Management helped with the preparation of tables and with setting the Preface ix work on the computer. My thanks to her for her readiness to help whenever requested. My thanks also to Linda Walker who prepared some of the graphs. R. C. M. "This is a major work in political economy. Drawing upon his life long experiences with research into and teaching on South Asia and South East Asia, Mascarenhas presents a sharp but comprehensive analysis of economic, social and political development. His comparison of the Indian model and the Japaneese model brings a new perspective upon the interaction of economics and politics in this part of the world."--Jan-Erik Lane, Professor, University of Geneva, Business and Public Management 'The book comprehensively discusses the diverse field of development from economic, political, sociological, historical, cultural, and technological points of view. Its theoretical discussions are well integrated, and present the readers with a coherent framework to think about development. To that end, the book is a success ... Mascarenhas successfully bridges the often isolated disciplines of industrial development and rural development.' - Yoichiro Sato, Political Science The author asks why East Asian governments were able to adopt appropriate types of state intervention while countries in South Asia were not? Based on evidence of studies the book emphasises the capacity of governments to govern and that means developing political and administrative institutions capable of formulating and implementing development policies. As a critique of development policy and management, this study looks at historical and contextual factors and political and administrative systems. The success of East Asian countries is attributed to the distinctive institutional characteristics identified with the strong state, in contrast to the soft state characteristic of South Asia Front Matter....Pages i-ix Development: a Comparative Study....Pages 1-12 Development: Problems and Constraints....Pages 13-25 Development: Changing Objectives....Pages 26-43 State and Market: Alternatives to Development....Pages 44-66 Comparative Development: the Two Asias....Pages 67-95 Development Policies: Analysis and Implementation....Pages 96-107 Developing Capability for Managing Development....Pages 108-127 Technology and Industrialization: a Strategy for Development....Pages 128-152 Public Enterprise and Development....Pages 153-169 Strategies for the Development and Management of Agriculture....Pages 170-189 Conclusion....Pages 190-193 Back Matter....Pages 194-220 In this study of the Comparative Political Economy of East and South Asia, the author adopts an interdisciplinary perspective on Third World development, thus recognising the importance of the interrelationships between the economy and the society and emphasising the need to direct attention to political, institutional and historical factors. The political economy approach adopted in this study examines the role of the state in promoting political and socio-economic development. It takes the position that the state and market play a complementary role in that promotion, but arriving at the app