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2017 | Book

Asia Amid the Varieties of Capitalism Debate Read chapter Read first chapter

Varieties of Capitalism in Asia

Beyond the Developmental State

Authors: David Hundt, Dr. Jitendra Uttam

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Book Series : Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book devises an innovative new way of explaining how socioeconomic orders shape capitalism in Asia. Hundt and Uttam go beyond both the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach, which is mainly used to analyse Western capitalism, and the 'developmental state' thesis, which is the primary framework for analysing capitalism in Asia, and propose a new and innovative approach to the emergence of capitalist systems. Rather than focusing solely or predominantly on the state, they argue, it is necessary to bring society back in to an analysis of capitalism. The authors apply this approach to case studies from across the region: Japan; South Korea and Taiwan; Hong Kong and Singapore; Malaysia and Thailand; and India and China. This volume will appeal to historians, political scientists and economists, as well as policymakers, who are interested in the transformation of the Asian region since World War II.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
1. Asia Amid the Varieties of Capitalism Debate
Abstract
This chapter explains how and why Asia has been excluded from debates about capitalist development. The ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach has hitherto been primarily used to analyse Western capitalism, while the ‘developmental state’ (DS) thesis has been the main framework for analysing capitalism in Asia. The chapter illustrates how these separate and yet overlapping literatures can be reconciled, and used as a basis for a new theory of capitalism in Asia. Such as theory is valuable, we argue, because it can provide a more nuanced understanding of the social and political bases of capitalism, how economic agents contest the ends and means of capitalist development, and the variation in the policies used to promote capitalism.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
2. State and Society in Asian Capitalism
Abstract
This chapter begins by arguing that the DS thesis was a retrospective and revisionist validation of the state-led developmental paradigm in some Asian societies, but not necessarily a genuine theory of capitalism. It next explains how and why Asia has been a notable oversight from the VoC literature. The chapter then reviews prior attempts to reconcile the DS and VoC literatures, and explains why these do not constitute a theory of Asian capitalism. The final section of the chapter outlines methods for analysing how the leaders of Asian societies think about capitalist development, and contestation of the goals of capitalism; how economic agents cooperate, compete, and contest the organisation of capitalism; and how capitalism is furthered through economic policy.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
3. Japan’s Collective Capitalism and the Origins of the Asian Model
Abstract
This chapter identifies the distinctive features of Japanese capitalism, and reviews competing interpretations of how capitalism has evolved in post-war Japan. It argues that ‘collective capitalism’ has been the main organising idea since WWII. Furthermore, the chapter argues that the state has shaped economic institutions in order to achieve specific developmental goals. Industrial policy has been the primary means of state intervention, and it has been increasingly used as a defensive rather than developmental measure. The chapter concludes that the most evidence for change in Japanese capitalism since the founding of the post-war developmental regime has been in policy, rather than ideas or institutions.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
4. Confucian Capitalism: ‘Organised from the Top’ in Korea and ‘Reorganised from the Bottom’ in Taiwan
Abstract
This chapter analyses how the seemingly similar developmental regimes of South Korea and Taiwan produced quite different outcomes. Differing structural-institutional contexts, we argue, explain these outcomes. Korea’s ethnic homogeneity produced a state-business alliance exemplified by the rise of the chaebol, but Taiwan’s ethnic diversity resulted in a lack of trust between the state and business. So the Taiwanese state promoted the growth of smaller firms. Korea’s big business-centred ‘developmental alliance’ helped to ‘organise capitalism from the top’. This narrowed capitalism’s social base. By contrast, Taiwan’s approach ‘reorganised capitalism from the bottom’ and was connected to a wider social base. The chapter illustrates how Korean capitalism’s comparatively lower degree of social embeddedness differs from Taiwan’s more well-embedded form, but converging policies explain exceptional performance in both societies.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
5. Entrepôt Capitalism in Hong Kong and Singapore
Abstract
This chapter analyses the development of capitalism in Singapore and Hong Kong. It identifies the similarities between these ‘entrepôt economies’ and other Asian DSs, and also how and why the city states are distinct in their own right. These economies, we argue, reacted differently from Northeast Asian DSs to their perceived vulnerability to external threats. The entrepôt economies have practiced more open-market forms of capitalism, and they have generally been more reliant on external markets. The city states are also diverging from each other somewhat: Singapore has diverged relatively little from its open-market form of developmental statism, but Hong Kong’s political–economic systems are changing as a result of the territory’s absorption into mainland China.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
6. Malaysia’s ‘State Capitalism’ and Thailand’s ‘Alliance Capitalism’
Abstract
This chapter explains how capitalism in Malaysia and Thailand derived its logical core from the ‘statist developmentalism’ perfected by the first and second generations of Asian capitalism. It identifies diverse socioeconomic orders, marked by variety in nationalism, ethnicity, race, and religion, that produced different types of politics of development. In Thailand, it gave rise to a conservative political constituency that ignored a persistent rural–urban divide. In Malaysia, it provided impetus to a progressive political outreach to Malays through the NEP. Spreading regional production networks, modelled after the ‘flying geese’ pattern, necessitated wider convergence in policies. The different performances of these two societies can be explained by policies that limit the social base of Thai capitalism, and policies aimed at widening the social base of Malaysian capitalism.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
7. India’s ‘Democratic Capitalism’ and China’s ‘Market Socialism’
Abstract
India’s ‘democratic capitalism’ and China’s ‘market socialism’ have more areas of divergence than convergence. Different historical legacies, state structures, bureaucracies, orientations of industrialisation, and sources of finance contributed to sharply differing developmental policies. The chapter highlights how India’s state system, burdened by the combined weight of merged ‘social caste’ and ‘economic class’ categories, could not introduce policies aimed at resetting state–society relations, whereas China’s powerful state launched the ‘open door’ policy to recast state–society relations. China’s economic dynamism contrasts with India’s subdued economic performance, and this has resulted from policies that produced socially embedded and socially unembedded capitalist experiments.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
8. Asian Capitalism and the VoC Debate
Abstract
This chapter first collates the findings of the case studies and uses them to draw conclusions about the nature of Asian capitalism. Capitalist societies across the region differ markedly in ideas, institutions, and policies, but we argue that there is a degree of commonality that constitutes a distinctive approach to capitalist development. Second, the chapter illustrates how our new theory of Asian capitalism enriches conventional understandings of capitalism. The new theory refines both the VoC literature and also the DS thesis. The chapter resolves tensions between the two literatures, and in doing so makes it possible to better understand the world-historic transformation of the Asian region since WWII.
David Hundt, Jitendra Uttam
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Varieties of Capitalism in Asia
Authors
David Hundt
Dr. Jitendra Uttam
Copyright Year
2017
Electronic ISBN
978-1-349-58974-6
Print ISBN
978-0-230-24031-5
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-58974-6

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