The Chinese Roots of Taiwan's Development State

Megan Greene, University of Kansas

China's Nationalist government has been widely described as economically incompetent and corrupt and having failed completely in its efforts to govern China and manage its economy in the 1940s. Yet, that same state, or a pared down version of it, has been lauded for its successes in guiding Taiwan's economic development just a few years later. Explanations for this apparent about face have tended to focus on the very different conditions the Nationalists found and created in Taiwan and on increased aid and advice from the United States after 1950, but relatively little attention has been paid to the origins of the Nationalists' developmentalist approach in China.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 154. Rethinking the Developmental State 1: The Roots of a Developmental State in China and Taiwan