It is argued that the neo-classical approach of regarding the market economy as a largely sufficient means of optimising technological and economic development is quite unrealistic and market forces alone cannot assure rapid technological and economic development. It is suggested instead that the pace of technological change and industrial transformation can be accelerated by well-directed pro-active State intervention. To do so, the State must allocate resources, articulate goals, identify time frames, design and implement appropriate policies as well as establish linkage and integrative mechanisms. This thesis focuses on defining the characteristics of a State that can stimulate technological advancement in carefully selected sectors to achieve mastery of particular technologies in the drive for economic development. According to the argument of this thesis, it is by means of a developmental State, that technological development can become endogenised and it is differences in State capacity that largely explain variations in economic performance amongst developing countries. State actions that create coherence between the public and private sectors, so leading to a synergistic interaction promoting the strengths of both to the detriment of neither are also defined and described. From the starting position that it is the developmental State that is best positioned to co-ordinate and prioritise in order to bring about rapid technological and economic development, the thesis explores what are the defining characteristics of such a State. In addition to the three features recognised in the literature: - relative autonomy, capacity, and embeddedness - the thesis argues that for a State to become developmental, four other features are required. These are: - legitimacy of the State, unity in society, motivation for economic development, and political stability. The essence of this thesis's theoretical contribution is that it is the extent to which these seven features are developed, as well as the manner and extent of their interaction with one another, that determines the level of developmental capacity of a State in any particular period. By means of this theoretical framework, the socio-historical and political processes in the South Korean and Turkish States are analysed with reference to their car manufacturing industries. Technical changes implemented throughout the history of the three Turkish passenger car plants are investigated, together with the firms' characteristics and performance. The nature and objectives of technological changes generated in the plants are explored and both macro and firm-level factors that affect the firms' technological efforts are identified. The focus of the case studies is to uncover the precise nature of the means and mechanisms whereby the South Korean State's interventions proved to be so much more effective than those of the Turkish State.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:488280 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Erdogdu, Muammer Mustafa |
| Contributors | Nixson, Frederick |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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