Dr. Trevor reasoned that the East Asian experience counters the
neo-liberal assertion that policy efforts in social protection hinder
economic growth in developing countries. Speaking of the post-war
consensus where most politicians and analysts agreed that the state had
to be involved in the economic development of developing countries, Dr.
Trevor said that this led to a period of consistent growth for
industrial nations in the 1950s and the 60s. However this consensus
broke down in the nineteen-seventies when a major economic crisis hit
the global economy leading to the emergence of neo-liberalism.
However, in Asia, many states undertook successful development
strategies, including the famous “Four Tigers” namely Taiwan, Hong
Kong, South Korea and Singapore. Similarly Malaysia and Thailand also
achieved a measure of success in creating conditions for economic
growth. Many reasons have been attributed to their success including
the famous paper published by Tommy Koh, a famous Singaporean diplomat
and lawyer, where he presented “10 Asian values” that helped East
Asia’s economic progress and prosperity.
Dr Trevor concluded his talk by positioning the Washington Consensus
vis-à-vis the Developmental State, and asked whether the developmental
state model could be replicated elsewhere.
Earlier, Dr. Trevor was introduced to AIT by Dr. Philippe Doneys,
Coordinator, Gender and Development Studies (GDS) Field of Study at
School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD).
