1. POLS 373 Foundations of Comparative Politics
Lecture: Why is East Asia Rich?
Part 2, Explanations

2. The Rational Choice Perspective
Why is East Asia Rich?
The Rational Choice Perspective

3. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
What’s the basic rational choice argument? That is, how might a rationalist answer the question, “Why is East Asia Rich?”

4. Why is East Asia Rich?
Rational Choice Perspective
The short version: If problem of poverty is due to the inability of society to overcome collective goods problem, the achievement of prosperity must be the reverse

5. Why is East Asia Rich?
Rational Choice Perspective
Beginning with a focus on the collective goods problem is good starting point for rational choice argument. But what is the next step? The next point of focus?
Quick answer: The state

6. Why is East Asia Rich? Why is the state important?
Rational Choice Perspective
Why is the state important?
Basic reason: States are generally the only institution capable of compelling contributions to the creation of public goods
For states to compel contributions to the creation of public goods, they need to be “strong”
But, this raises an obvious, but important set of questions …

7. Why is East Asia Rich? Were the East Asian states strong?
Rational Choice Perspective
Were the East Asian states strong?
Why were they strong?
Did the East Asian states, in fact, use their “strength” to focus on building public goods?

8. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
Were the East Asian states strong?

9. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
Why were they strong?
The “legacy” of colonialism, which created a solid institutional foundation in all three countries for a strong state
The historical context of the Cold War: the US played a key role in buttressing the East Asian states in an effort to build strong, anti-communist allies in Asia

10. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
Did the East Asian states, in fact, focus on building public goods?
In all three countries the states played a remarkably similar role in terms of economic policy, much of which was directed toward creating a strong infrastructure
All three states also made sure to direct scarce capital toward productive investments in core or targeted industries.

11. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
Saying strong states played important roles in East Asian development, however, raises more questions
In particular, we also need to know why state leaders behaved the way they did
In other words, why did they adopt policies that promoted national economic development rather than lining their own pockets?

12. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
From rational choice perspective, question has particular pertinence with regard to Korea and Taiwan, two non-democratic regimes …
Why would strong, authoritarian states pursue national development goals instead of engaging in self-serving corruption?
What was it about the strategic environment that made the former a rational decision as opposed to the latter?

13. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
General Answer: The profound sense of national vulnerability that existed in all three countries
“National vulnerability” motivated leaders to understand that their political survival was intimately connected to the strength of the country as a whole, which, in turn, was linked to the strength of the national economy

14. Why is East Asia Rich?
Rational Choice Perspective
Discussion Question: Does the rational choice argument make sense? Is it persuasive?

15. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective One last note
Rational choice arguments are not all the same
Other scholars using a rational choice perspective, in fact, have come to almost diametric conclusions about the reasons for the East Asian economic success
Specifically, many completely reject the notion that the state had anything to do with East Asian industrialization

16. Why is East Asia Rich? Rational Choice Perspective
Logic of competing arguments
State intervention in the market must be limited because it tends to inhibit economic efficiency
This happens because state policies invariably create barriers or other obstacles to the free flow of goods, capital, labor and information
The economic success of East Asia, instead, is attributed to the region’s strong integration into global markets and, more specifically, an emphasis on exporting

17. The Cultural Perspective
Why is East Asia Rich?
The Cultural Perspective

18. Why is East Asia Rich? Cultural Perspective Basic point
A cultural argument should begin with the premise that culture matters, but how and why it matters will almost certainly differ in different historical, social, and political contexts
Thus, we must be extremely careful about making grand claims, such as “Confucianism explains capitalist development in East Asia”

19. Why is East Asia Rich? A “Bad” Cultural Argument Cultural Perspective
Consider the statement: Confucianism explains capitalist development in East Asia
What’s wrong with this claim?

20. Why is East Asia Rich?
Cultural Perspective: The “Old” Confucian Argument
Basic Point: Based on the idea that the core values of Confucianism—which are usually identified as respect for authority, filial piety, harmony, and intellectualism (respect of education)—have been instrumental in promoting economic development in East Asia
It is argued that these values are particularly well matched to the demands of contemporary capitalism, encouraging, as they do, a strong work ethic, high levels of education and training, discipline and company loyalty, and a propensity to save and invest

21. Why is East Asia Rich?
Cultural Perspective: The problem with the “old” Confucian argument
The Importance of Education
Perhaps the most important Confucian value is respect for education
In East Asia, the enormous emphasis put on educational achievement, so the argument goes, has not only given East Asian societies a huge competitive advantage over less educated and less skilled societies, but also has allowed East Asia to catch up with the West more quickly than would otherwise have been the case

22. Why is East Asia Rich?
Cultural Perspective: The problem with the “old” Confucian argument
The basic Confucian argument, on the surface, sounds reasonable. So what’s the problem?
The basic problem: A lack of comparative perspective
Advocates assume that Confucianism has played an essentially similar role throughout East Asia generally
But as even the most cursory comparative analysis will show, this just is not true; indeed, the closer one looks at various East Asian societies, the clearer it becomes that they are not a bunch of cultural clones

23. Why is East Asia Rich?
Cultural Perspective: The problem with the “old” Confucian argument
The Problem: To put it very simply, Confucian “culture” in Japan is not the same as in Taiwan, which is not the same as in Korea
Just consider some basic facts: in Korea, only 1% of the population identify themselves as Confucian; by contrast, Christianity is very strong: about 32 percent of South Koreans are Christian (most Presbyterian, followed by Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, and Methodists), and close to 24 percent are Buddhist
Given these basic facts, how is it possible to classify Korea as a Confucian society … why not a Christian society?

24. Why is East Asia Rich?
Cultural Perspective: The problem with the “old” Confucian argument
Some more facts
Only 0.7 percent of Japanese are Christian
Most Japanese identify themselves as Buddhist or followers of Shinto, but it’s also fairly reasonable to say that Japan is a strongly secular society
Is it likely, then, that Confucianism in Korea and Japan are different and that they produce different types of Confucianism?

25. Why is East Asia Rich?
Cultural Perspective: The problem with the “old” Confucian argument
Key point: We need to remember that the impact of Confucianism or any other cultural factor, is likely to be different in different societies or even in the same society at different times
In other words, Confucianism or culture more generally doesn’t always matter in the same way, in part because it doesn’t always manifest itself in the same way in different places

26. Why is East Asia Rich? Cultural Perspective: A Better Approach
In place of an all-encompassing Confucian argument are approaches that examine the relationship between culture and economy with careful regard to specific contexts
Consider the example discussed in the chapter: Capitalist development and Confucianism in Japan and Taiwan

27. The Structural Perspective
Why is East Asia Rich?
The Structural Perspective

28. Why is East Asia Rich? Structural Perspective Simple explanation
East Asian wealth is a result of the region’s advantageous position in the world economy and …
… a particularly favorable (and largely fortuitous) geopolitical relationship with the world’s hegemon, the United States during the post-WWII period

29. Why is East Asia Rich?
Structural Perspective: A Primer on World-Systems Theory
The figure represents the key spatial element of the capitalist world-system, namely, trimodal division of the world into three basic zones: the core, the periphery, and the semi-periphery

30. Why is East Asia Rich? Structural Perspective: World-Systems Theory
Key Temporal Elements
Cyclical rhythms
Secular trends
Contradictions
Crisis

31. Why is East Asia Rich? Keeping the world safe for capitalism
Structural Perspective: World-Systems Theory
Understanding of basic spatial and temporal elements of capitalist world-system, lead to simple principle that defines the much of recent history, especially in terms of understanding the actions of the United States prior to and since World War II:
Keeping the world safe for capitalism

32. Why is East Asia Rich?
Public Papers of the Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954, p
The President's News Conference of April 7, 1954
Q. Robert Richards, Copley Press: Mr. President, would you mind commenting on the strategic importance of Indochina to the free world? I think there has been, across the country, some lack of understanding on just what it means to us.
A: The President: You have, of course, both the specific and the general when you talk about such things. First of all, you have the specific value of a locality in its production of materials that the world needs.
Then you have the possibility that many human beings pass under a dictatorship that is inimical to the free world.
Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences (con’t)

33. Why is East Asia Rich?
Public Papers of the Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954, p
The President's News Conference of April 7, 1954
A: (con’t) Now, with respect to the first one, two of the items from this particular area that the world uses are tin and tungsten. They are very important. There are others, of course, the rubber plantations and so on. Then with respect to more people passing under this domination, Asia, after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses.
But when we come to the possible sequence of events, the loss of Indochina, of Burma, of Thailand, of the Peninsula, and Indonesia following, now you begin to talk about areas that not only multiply the disadvantages that you would suffer through loss of materials, sources of materials, but now you are talking really about millions and millions and millions of people.
Finally, the geographical position achieved thereby does many things. It turns the so-called island defensive chain of Japan, Formosa, of the Philippines and to the southward; it moves in to threaten Australia and New Zealand. It takes away, in its economic aspects, that region that Japan must have as a trading area or Japan, in turn, will have only one place in the world to go -- that is, toward the Communist areas in order to live.
So, the possible consequences of the loss are just incalculable to the free world.

34. Why is East Asia Rich? Structural Perspective Key points
Japanese postwar development was premised on the need to establish a strong foundation for capitalism in Asia
Japan, in other words, was chosen or “invited” to develop by the United States, the hegemonic power
This was a very “special invitation” that gave all sorts of privileges to Japan, and by extension to South Korea and Taiwan
In this sense, too, South Korea and Taiwan were also “invited to develop”

35. Why is East Asia Rich?
The Flying Geese Model of Industrial Development

36. Why is East Asia Rich?
Structural Perspective
A key implication: If Japan, Korea and Taiwan weren’t “invited” to develop, they would not have achieved the economic success that they did
What do you think?