The term 'developmental state' does not enjoy any clear consensus about its meaning. It may help avoid some false dichotomies (and false hopes) to remember where this term came from, when it was invented by political economists back in the mid-1990s and became a hot topic in social science and policy circles. Because in those days, it had nothing to do with socialism, democracy, nationalism or pro-poor anything, says Virginia Tilley.
Human Sciences Research Council (Wed,) studied this question.