Yin-wah Chu

Labor and democratization in South Korea and Taiwan

The article examines the recent work by Rueschemeyer et. al. (1992) and revisits the classic issue of the social basis of democracy. It argues that Rueschemeyer et al. are biased in their definitio...

State Neoliberalism: The Chinese Road to Capitalism

China has undergone rapid and sustained economic transformation in the last 30 years. Its development has been remarkable for a number of reasons. In the first place, its gross domestic product has increased at close to ten percent per year since 1978, and the country managed to reduce the share of the population living on less than US

The Transition from Neoliberalism to State Neoliberalism in China at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

1 per day from 64 percent in 1981 to 16 percent by 2006; effectively lifting 400 million people out of absolute poverty (UNDP 2006). The rapid growth rate was matched nowhere in the world except for the so-called miracle economies of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In the second place, although the Chinese economy has its share of problems, such as tremendous regional disparity, it also succeeded in upgrading its technological capability and escaped the threat of foreign domination. Over the years, not only has China become the global factory for inexpensive consumer goods, it has also enticed BP, General Motors, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and other corporations to locate part of their research and development facilities in China. Furthermore, despite the importance of foreign investors both as producers aiming at the global market, or as retailers targeting the domestic one, foreign capital remains largely a junior partner in China’s development project. In the third place, despite the downfall of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, China’s communist party-state has continued to provide leadership for the country.

The Asian Developmental State: Ideas and Debates

Neoliberalism emerged in the late 1970s as a new policy framework to guide the development orientation in not only the South but also the North and the East. In the 1990s neoliberalism found expression in the so-called Washington Consensus as a way of articulating the economic orthodoxy that prevailed in the U.S. Treasury Department, the World Bank, and the IMF. Beeson and Islam (2005, 4) point out that neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus are meant to favour the unfettered operation of the market and to roll back the reach of the state. The states, in both rich and poor nations, have been urged to embrace “macroeconomic prudence” (a euphemism for control of inflation and for maintaining tight budgets), deregulation, privatisation, trade and financial liberalisation, lower taxes, and small government.

State Neoliberalism: The Chinese Road to Capitalism in Comparative Perspective

The rapid economic transformations of Japan and, later, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other second-tier East Asian newly industrializing countries have since the 1970s daunted observers around the world. The “developmental state” is one of the most influential ideas that have been put forth to make sense of the drama. Johnson (1982, 1995), in presenting a pioneering study of Japan, identified the developmental state as one that gives priority to economic growth, productivity, and technological competitiveness. It is led by a small, elite bureaucracy recruited from the best managerial talents, which provides leadership through the formulation of industrial policies. Furthermore, a pilot agency within the bureaucracy exists to coordinate the policy formulation and implementation. Such industrial policies do not displace the market, but gear to market rationality in the long term. Finally, it is facilitated by a political system that gives sufficient room for the bureaucracy to take initiatives (see Onis 1991).

Chinese Capitalisms: An Introduction

이 글의 목적은 중국 정치경제의 맥락에서 자본주의의 새로운 변이라고 할 수 있는 중국 자본주의의 주요한 요소를 밝혀 내고, 그럼으로써 1978년 이후 등장한 중국 자본주의를 탐구하기 위한 발판을 마련하는 데 있다. 우리는 이 자본주의를 ‘국가 신자유주의(state neoliberalism)’로 명명하고자 한다. 먼저 이 글은 중국의 국가 신자유주의와 개발도상국, 서구, 그리고 후기사회주의 동유럽의 다양한 자본주의 간의 유사점과 차이점을 비교한다. 다음으로 국가 신자유주의의 특징을 살펴보고 어떻게 국가 신자유주의가 끊임없이 자본축적을 추동하여 중국을 가난한 제3세계 국가에서 자본주의 세계 경제의 엔진으로 견인했는지를 연구하고자 한다. 마지막으로 21세기의 국가 신자유주의를 전망해보려 한다.

Democracy and Organized Labor in Taiwan: The 1986 Transition

When Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, China was under the rule of Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1735–96). At the time, the country was perhaps exuding the last of its premodern splendor. For despite the rapid ascendance of Europe in the areas of navigation science, military skills, and production technology, China still managed to dazzle George Macartney, head of the British delegation, when he paid a court visit to Emperor Qianlong in 1793. Taken on a trip around the garden of the Emperor’s summer palace, Macartney remarked that the 40 or 50 palaces and pavilions he visited were “all furnished in the richest manner … that our presents must shrink from the comparison and hide their diminished heads” (Robbins 1908, p. 309). But it was not only material civilization that impressed Macartney. Reporting on the ceremony of his reception by the Emperor he wrote that the “commanding feature . was that calm dignity, that sober pomp of Asiatic greatness, which European refinements have not yet attained” (Robbins 1908, p. 307).1 At this time Europeans had also come to appreciate China’s civilization at a more subtle level. According to Michael Adas (cited in Arrighi 2007, p. 3), China was a source of inspiration for the [l]eading figures of the European Enlightenment. Leibniz, Voltaire, and Quesnay, among others, looked to China for moral instruction, guidance in institutional development, and supporting evidence for their advocacy of causes as varied as benevolent absolutism, meritocracy, and an agriculturally based national economy.