David Hundt

South Korea is often cited as a case of miraculous transformation from poverty to prosperity. Korea’s achievement of moving from one of the world’s poorest countries as recently as the early 1960s to the ranks of the ten biggest economies only four decades later has rightly attracted interest from policymakers and scholars alike. This book identifies the factors that shaped relations between the state and big business in Korea, the ‘developmental alliance’. These factors offer a cogent framework in which to identify and predict changes in power relations between government and business. Rather than merely offering a means of explaining the rapid-growth phase of Korean development, the politics of the developmental alliance also help us understand how and why the Korean miracle turned to crisis in 1997 and why the subsequent recovery has been so uneven. In this way, the book highlights the political power of business, which is often underplayed in discussions of the development of Korea. It also sheds light on the constraints on policymakers during modernisation, and how power is shared among a small number of powerful parties. Illustrating the tumultuous politics of the ‘developmental alliance’ between business and government during the rise and decline of South Korea’s economic miracle, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in Korean politcs, economics and development,

State, Capital and the Politics of Rapid Development

Korea's Developmental Alliance

Baogang He

Chengxin Pan

Exploring the "China factor" in the North Korean human rights debate, this book evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of applying the Chinese development-based approach to human rights in the DPRK. The contributors to this book treat the relevance of the Chinese experience to the DPRK seriously and evaluate how it might apply to easing North Korean human rights issues.They engage with the debate about the relevance of the developmental or development-based approach to North Korea. In doing so they problematise, scrutinise and contextualise the development-based approach in Northeast Asia, including China, and examine different responses to the developmental approach and the influence of domestic politics on these responses. A valuable contribution to discussions on possible ways forward for human right in North Korea, and an insightful critique of the Northeast Asian development model more broadly.

David Hundt

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