The concept of the developmental state emerged to explain the rapid growth of a number of countries in East Asia in the postwar period. Yet the developmental state literature also offered a theoretical approach to growth that was heterodox with respect to prevailing approaches in both economics...

This paper considers the contribution of the developmental state literature to comparative historical analysis, with a particular emphasis on methodological issues: the role of single and comparative case studies, counter-factual analysis, the nature of historical explanation and the...