Reviving the Developmental State? The Myth of the 'National Bourgeoisie'

Abstract

The call for a return to a kind of 'developmentalism' is not only to be found among political elites. It also emanates from a powerful and articulate wing of the anti-globalization movement--critical intellectuals, NGOs, and trade unions. In a period when free market policies have little credibility, but labour is not strong enough to pose a serious challenge to private property, some kind of statist development project appears to many to be the 'transitional programme' of our time. Defending a space for national capitalist development, under the direction of domestic groups, at least seems consistent in principle with conscious direction of the economy--even if under the hegemony of the national bourgeoisie. This nostalgia for the bygone era is certainly understandable. In many respects, I am sympathetic to it. But we also have behind us a half-century of experience with just such models of development, models which relied upon, and fostered the growth of, domestic capitalists. It may, therefore, be of some relevance to turn to the historical record, in order to examine closely the political preconditions for, and consequences of, developmentalist projects.