The Postdevelopmental State

Reviews / Votes

"This is one of the very best books on contemporary South Korean politics and economics that I have read. It is a tremendous contribution to the fields of Korean studies, geography, and economic history. The study is executed with precision; it is thoroughly and ethically researched; and it is theoretically ambitious." -- Joseph Jonghyun Jeon, University of California, Irvine "This outstanding book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding of contemporary South Korean society, particularly the challenges faced by liberal and progressive reformers who have sought to overcome the legacies of neoliberalism and the developmental state during a time of expanding inequality. Exploring such challenges at the nexus of political institutions and civil society, Doucette provides compelling insight into the aspirations as well as the limitations that have shaped attempts to realize both social democracy and economic democracy. While this book focuses on South Korea in the wake of the massive anti-authoritarian protests that helped bring about a peaceful transfer of power in 2017-known as the Candlelight Revolution-Doucette also offers a timely perspective for wider regional and global analyses of political-economic transformation." -- Nan Kim, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee "The Postdevelopmental State provides powerful new insights into the contradictory processes of economic democratization in South Korea in recent decades. Jamie Doucette does so by calling into question widespread notions of the developmental state. He provides an alternative approach that translates Gramsci's concept of the integral state and demonstrates the considerable political stakes of this alternative approach. This book will be of great interest to scholars and activists in other regions of the world." -- Gillian Hart, University of California Berkeley & University of the Witwatersrand "Several of the biggest topics gain coverage here and the book contains more insight from local debates than one finds in most other treatments. The reader, especially the nonspecialist reader, will gain both a sense for what are the key points of public contestation in Korea and the arguments made by participants." -- Erik Mobrand, Seoul National University "Far more than just an analysis of the South Korean developmental state, The Postdevelopmental State is also an important analysis of South Korean democracy...Doucette's account should be essential for those desiring to understand the politics of this new social question, as well as students of South Korean politics, but it should also be a required reading for anyone interested in the complex inequality that shapes contemporary politics across the globe." -- Journal of Contemporary Asia "Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty." -- Choice "The book's relevance extends beyond South Korea, and it speaks to broader struggles over development and democracy in places where the developmental state model remains or is emerging as influential." -- The AAG Review of Books "Doucette's book is a timely intervention in ongoing debates on economic governance, challenging resurgent assumptions that elite-led state developmentalism remains a viable alternative to address the current crisis." -- Economic Geography