THE RESURGENCE OF EAST ASIA
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The developmental state model pioneered by Japan, Korea and currently utilized by China should be a model for the developing world due to its numerous economic advantages to the state and citizenry. The rapid pace at which these countries’ economies grew managed to silence skeptics who had made negative projections about their viability. In particular, the progress made in the auto-manufacturing sector could be replicated in other nations because of the adoption of modern systems such as the Just in Time management model. This mechanism of inventory control enables plants to monitor the production and distribution of products at optimal levels. Furthermore, the role of successive governments in collaborating with the private sector to develop the requisite infrastructure is a practice that can be emulated by other countries to foster a healthy business environment.[1] Such conditions facilitate foreign direct investment opportunities that are vital in earning the nation crucial revenues for nation building. Consequently, different industries are able to expand thereby boosting the revenue streams. As a result, the business climate enables large as well as small and medium sized companies to thrive.
Similarly, the embrace of technological advances by the East Asia countries is a commendable effort that can be integrated by other nations. This is because such policies led to the creation of many jobs for a majority of citizens and ensured that the countries did not suffer from brain drain. Thus, the skilled personnel available transferred their knowledge to fellow citizens thereby enlightening the nation on the importance of the ongoing industrial revolution. Such actions can be copied by developing countries to build their human resource capital, which is essential to the transformation of their economies. Moreover, the regulation of basic products like milk and sugar is something that can be done to cushion low-income earners from the pressures of high standards of living. These measures have to be state sanctioned with the aim of securing the mandate of the people in executing other economic policies, as was the case in the above countries.
However, the model has not been successfully copied outside of Asia because of the lack of political goodwill from other leaders. Since most of these measures require certain sacrifices, some leaders do not want to adopt them for fear of losing critical voting constituencies. They shelve these ambitious projects for political expediency yet the ordinary citizens suffer due to the slow economic growth. In addition, the high levels of corruption in government tenders have made it difficult for most aspects of this model to be implemented. Bribery among government officials and prospective contractors has been cited as an obstacle to members of the public enjoying the trickle down effects of many projects. Therefore, many projects have stalled as various officials plunder national resources without remorse because of their perceived political patronage and power. Likewise, the large population of these Asian countries makes this model unique to the region.[2] This is because of the ready market that has been established and the willingness of the citizens to support their local industries. In contrast, big sections of the people in developing countries prefer foreign merchandise. This hurts their local enterprises and reduces the economic growth of their nations while overseas businesses profit. By so doing, infrastructure projects stagnate and this increases redundancies as successive governments try to revive the different sectors of the economy.
Bibliography
Katada, Saori. 2012. The global economic crisis and East Asian regionalism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Liu,
Fu-Kuo, and Philippe Réignier. 2003. Regionalism in East
Asia: paradigm shifting? London:
Routledge Curzon.
[1] Liu and Reignier, Regionalism in East Asia: paradigm shifting (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), 5.
[2] Katada, the Global Economic Crisis and East Asian Regionalism (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012), 12.