The Chinese developmental state: standard accounts and new characteristics

Abstract

To what extent can the theory of the developmental state (DS) illuminate China’s development? This paper argues that the Chinese state reflects the standard accounts of the DS, but the conventional wisdom of the DS alone cannot capture comprehensively the features of Chinese development. In all aspects of standard accounts of the DS, China’s development embodies new characteristics. It is the Chinese DS with these new characteristics that has brought about China’s economic success. Consequently, the Chinese DS broadens the traditional concept of the DS and explores a new way for the development of some countries with similar social and economic backgrounds, particularly the economies in post-socialist transformation.