Governing Crisis: Political Economy of COVID-19 in Asian Developmental States

• In Event: Political Economy of East Asia

Abstract

In Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are successful examples of COVID-19 governance. All three were very preemptive in dealing with the virus. At the same time, variations also existed across the three in terms of what the governments focused on in their crisis responses. What explains the variations across South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan’s COVID-19 responses?
This paper contends that pre-existing state-market relations account for the national response variations across Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan are commonly characterized as developmental states. Despite the similarity, they vary with respect to the industrial strength, the enterprise types, and the trajectory of their developmental state models. The institutionalized, yet different, collaborative relationships become valuable resources on which each government taps and mobilizes during crisis emergencies.
The paper process traced the political choices these countries made in response to COVID-19. Preliminary results show that South Korea is able to invest in mass testing kits because the country benefits from the capitalized Chaebol structure. Taiwan continues to rely on its small- and medium-sized textile business and focuses on mask production. Singapore, on the other hand, relied on multinational enterprises for its industrial upgrading. During the crisis, the country has to turn to the market for key resources.

Author

• Wei-Ting Yen, Franklin & Marshall College