The re-emergence of China as an economic superpower is a spectacular phenomenon. How has it happened? Where does China go? Is there a model which China is believed to have been following and does the model offer some transferable lessons? This book tries to answer those questions, as it is intended to contribute to the explanation of China's contemporary development trajectory. There is a plethora of analyses of post-Mao China's transformation and development. However, this book is the first comprehensive attempt to frame China's advancements within the context of the East Asian developmental ... More

The re-emergence of China as an economic superpower is a spectacular phenomenon. How has it happened? Where does China go? Is there a model which China is believed to have been following and does the model offer some transferable lessons? This book tries to answer those questions, as it is intended to contribute to the explanation of China's contemporary development trajectory. There is a plethora of analyses of post-Mao China's transformation and development. However, this book is the first comprehensive attempt to frame China's advancements within the context of the East Asian developmental miracle. It is argued here that China is a genus of post-socialist developmental state model, which fuses the two intellectual streams, that of the concept of the developmental state and that of post-socialist transformation. As China transits from central planning to market, it tries to imitate the institutions and policies of Japan and South Korea during their high growth periods of the second half of the twentieth century. This approach – broadly in opposition to the 30 years of neo-liberal propaganda worldwide – has brought impressive results and gives us some predictability as to the future. The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter one examines the concept of the developmental state. Chapter two focuses on post-socialist transformation in China. Chapter three is a comparative analysis of systemic and institutional arrangements of China, Japan and Korea. Chapter four discusses the three countries’ development policies. Chapter five examines China as a post-socialist developmental state and discusses the model's broader applicability.