The political economy of industrial policy in Korea

The article aims to provide some additional empirical support and theoretical consolidation for the emerging 'alternative' interpretation of the Korean developmental experience, which emphasizes the role of the state. After briefly reviewing some mainstream interpretations, it presents a detailed account of state intervention in Korea, where it is revealed that industrial policy played the central role. Then it explains how the Korean state was able to avoid some of the obvious dangers of such a policy, which is often associated with economic failures in developing countries. It then explores the basis of state power in Korea which provided a background for such an outcome. Copyright 1993 by Oxford University Press.