Description
Book SynopsisThe Asian financial crisis of 19971998 was supposed to be the death knell for the developmental state. The International Monetary Fund supplied emergency funds for shattered economies but demanded that states liberalize financial markets and withdraw from direct involvement in the economy. Financial liberalization was meant to spell the end of strategic industry policy and the state-directed policy lending it involved. Yet, largely unremarked by analysts, South Korea has since seen a striking revival of financial activism. Policy lending by state-owned development banks has returned the state to the core of the financial system. Korean development banks now account for one quarter of all loans and take the lead in providing low-cost finance to local manufacturing firms in strategic industries.Elizabeth Thurbon argues that an ideational analysis can help explain this renewed financial activism. She demonstrates the presence of a developmental mindset on the part of political leaders
Trade Review
Thurbon’s new book is a welcome revitalization of the important discussion on the developmental state and improves our understanding of a distinct and path-dependent model of state-led capitalism that is emerging in East Asia. Her focus on the developmental mindset of the political elite is an important contribution to this understanding while at the same time raising many new questions for future debates... [I] strongly recommend this book for all scholars and students of development as well as those curious about Asian capitalism and its spirit.
-- Thomas Kalinowski, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea * Pacific Affairs Book Reviews *
Table of Contents1. Rebirth of the Developmental State
2. Developmental States: Bringing Ideas Back In
3. Makings of a Developmental Mindset and Emergence of Strategy Mark I
4. Rise of Financial Activism
5. Fracturing Consensus and the Abandonment of Financial Activism
6. Return of the State
7. Emergence of Strategy Mark II
8. Return of Development Bankers
9. Full Flowering of Financial Activism
10. What Future for Financial Activism in Korea and Beyond?
