Is a Strong State a Prerequisite or Obstacle to Economic Growth?

Proceedings of ‏The 2nd International Academic Conference on Research in Social Sciences

Year: 2020

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/2nd.iacrss.2020.10.37

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Is a Strong State a Prerequisite or Obstacle to Economic Growth?

Heran Gao

 

ABSTRACT: 

Is a strong state a prerequisite or an obstacle to economic growth? Through analyzing the three main attributes – capable bureaucracy and national project, embedded autonomy, and developmental political settlements – of a developmental state, this essay explores how and why China has successfully minimized its short-term economic loss and maximized the potential of achieving long-term economic growth by comparing its coping strategies toward SARS and COVID-19. Collecting data from news and official healthcare documents, this article employs a case study method to delineate and analyze China’s effort of combating epidemics as a strong state. This article concludes that a strong state is a prerequisite to economic growth.

Keywords: Developmental State, China, SARS, COVID-19.