TY - JOUR
T1 - Democratization, globalization, and institutional adaptation
T2 - the developmental states of South Korea and Taiwan
AU - Chu, Yin-wah
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong GRF [grant number 241308]. The author thanks the editors and reviewers of the Review of International Political Economy for their incisive comments and suggestions. Natasha Hamilton?Hart, Henry Yeung, and other participants in the Workshop on ?Institutions, Governance and Economic Performance in East Asia?, organized by the University of Auckland and the National University of Singapore, also rendered much needed encouragements and suggestions. These comments and suggestions have helped to strengthen the arguments made in this paper.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - This paper concurs with Hamilton-Hart and Yeung that in South Korea and Taiwan, the predominance of global production networks, growth of private enterprises, and democratization have placed developmental state institutions under pressure. However, despite the reorganization of the pilot agency and state bureaucracy, new institutions have emerged to take on the functions of policy consultation and coordination. These institutions continue to control ample financial and regulatory resources, which allow state elites to coordinate industrial transformation and mediate global engagement. South Korea and Taiwan, however, differ in their ability to appease sociopolitical conflict and find common ground to defy neoliberal tendency. Moreover, they differ in their preexisting industrial structures, modes of engaging with the global market, and security considerations with respect to mainland China. Given path dependency, the two cases differ in their success in launching new industries and facilitating defensive globalization. Due to this divergence, the two economies hold disparate positions in the global division of labor: lead firms in South Korea, contract manufacturers in Taiwan, and aspiring platform leaders in both cases. Enterprises from these two economies also weave disparate types of production networks, with those from South Korea exhibiting a higher level of functional diversity and geographical expansion.
AB - This paper concurs with Hamilton-Hart and Yeung that in South Korea and Taiwan, the predominance of global production networks, growth of private enterprises, and democratization have placed developmental state institutions under pressure. However, despite the reorganization of the pilot agency and state bureaucracy, new institutions have emerged to take on the functions of policy consultation and coordination. These institutions continue to control ample financial and regulatory resources, which allow state elites to coordinate industrial transformation and mediate global engagement. South Korea and Taiwan, however, differ in their ability to appease sociopolitical conflict and find common ground to defy neoliberal tendency. Moreover, they differ in their preexisting industrial structures, modes of engaging with the global market, and security considerations with respect to mainland China. Given path dependency, the two cases differ in their success in launching new industries and facilitating defensive globalization. Due to this divergence, the two economies hold disparate positions in the global division of labor: lead firms in South Korea, contract manufacturers in Taiwan, and aspiring platform leaders in both cases. Enterprises from these two economies also weave disparate types of production networks, with those from South Korea exhibiting a higher level of functional diversity and geographical expansion.
KW - democratization
KW - Developmental state
KW - global production networks
KW - institutional adaptation
KW - path dependency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071031607&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09692290.2019.1652671
DO - 10.1080/09692290.2019.1652671
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85071031607
SN - 0969-2290
VL - 28
SP - 59
EP - 80
JO - Review of International Political Economy
JF - Review of International Political Economy
IS - 1
ER -