Varieties of Developmental States: Three Non-Western Pathways to the Millennium Development Goals

• Main Author: JOSHI, Devin K.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: developmental state; human capital; Millennium Development Goals; natural capital; social capital; Singapore; Kuwait; Costa Rica; Asia; Asian Studies; Political Science; Politics and Social Change; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2352
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The "developmental state" discourse has opened up fruitful scholarly explorations of alternatives to neoliberal capitalism, but its scope has been somewhat narrow and geographically limited. As a remedy, I propose a broadening of the "developmental state" concept to include three varieties of non-Western states on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In these states, political leaders actively developed an initial "comparative advantage" in either (a) human capital; (b) natural capital; or (c) social capital that allowed the state to invest the returns-to-capital into a broader state-led development strategy to satisfy most citizen's basic human needs. I illustrate these three different pathways via the relatively successful experiences of Singapore, Kuwait, and Costa Rica.