Governance and Economic Transformation in Taiwan: The Role of Politics

This article analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the developmental-state approach as compared with a broader and more flexible developmental-governance approach - in relation to economic transformation in a single case country, Taiwan. It argues that both approaches have strong and weak points, and comes down in favour of the view that it is only through a thick' study of political forces, processes and circumstances that the reasoning behind developmental policies and institutions can be understood and the processes of economic transformation explained.