Quick questions on The developmental state and rapid industrialisation explained: H2 History

The developmental state did not operate in a vacuum, and a balanced answer must acknowledge the conditions that made its success possible. A buoyant postwar world economy offered growing markets for exports. Access to capital, technology and the markets of advanced economies allowed late industrialisers to catch up. High domestic savings rates supplied investment funds.

The strongest judgement holds that the developmental state was the decisive driver of industrialisation precisely because it converted favourable conditions into sustained growth. Conditions such as a buoyant world economy and high savings created an opportunity, but opportunities can be wasted; what the effective developmental state added was the strategy, coordination and discipline to seize them and to keep growth going over decades. The state was therefore not the sole cause, but it was the agent that turned potential into achievement. This is why the developmental-state model, rather than either pure market forces or favourable circumstances alone, is the centre of the explanation for Southeast Asia's rapid industrialisation.

State two defining features of a developmental state. [4 marks]

Explain why state capacity, rather than intervention alone, was decisive for rapid industrialisation. [12 marks]

"The developmental state, not favourable conditions, explains Southeast Asia's rapid industrialisation." How far do you agree? [20 marks]