Tobias ten Brink - Böcker

This book systematically analyzes the economic dynamics of large emerging economies from an extended Comparative Capitalisms perspective. Coining the phrase ‘state-permeated capitalism’, the authors shift the focus of research from economic policy alone, towards the real world of corporate and state behaviour. On the basis of four empirical case studies (Brazil, India, China, South Africa), the main drivers for robust economic growth in these countries from the 2000s until the 2010s are revealed. These are found, in particular, in mutual institutional compatibilities of ‘state-permeated capitalism’, in their large domestic markets, and beneficial global economic constellations. Differences in their institutional arrangements are explored to explain why China and India have been more economically successful than Brazil and South Africa. The authors highlight substantial challenges for the stability of state-permeated capitalism and assess the potential future growth, sustainability and likely pitfalls for these large emerging economies. Opening further avenues for empirical and theoretical research, this book raises questions for the future of the global economic order and should appeal to academics, graduate students and advanced undergraduates in politics, economics, economic sociology and development studies. It should also prove a worthwhile and provocative read for development practitioners and policy-makers.

This book systematically analyzes the economic dynamics of large emerging economies from an extended Comparative Capitalisms perspective. Coining the phrase ‘state-permeated capitalism’, the authors shift the focus of research from economic policy alone, towards the real world of corporate and state behaviour. On the basis of four empirical case studies (Brazil, India, China, South Africa), the main drivers for robust economic growth in these countries from the 2000s until the 2010s are revealed. These are found, in particular, in mutual institutional compatibilities of ‘state-permeated capitalism’, in their large domestic markets, and beneficial global economic constellations. Differences in their institutional arrangements are explored to explain why China and India have been more economically successful than Brazil and South Africa. The authors highlight substantial challenges for the stability of state-permeated capitalism and assess the potential future growth, sustainability and likely pitfalls for these large emerging economies. Opening further avenues for empirical and theoretical research, this book raises questions for the future of the global economic order and should appeal to academics, graduate students and advanced undergraduates in politics, economics, economic sociology and development studies. It should also prove a worthwhile and provocative read for development practitioners and policy-makers.

Since 1978, the end of the Mao era, economic growth in China has outperformed every previous economic expansion in modern history. While the largest Western economies continue to struggle with the effects of the deepest recession since World War II, the People's Republic of China still enjoys growth rates that are massive in comparison. In the country's smog-choked cities, a chaotic climate of buying and selling prevails. Tireless expansion and inventiveness join forces with an attitude of national euphoria in which anything seems possible. No longer merely the "workshop of the world," China is poised to become a global engine for innovation.In China's Capitalism, Tobias ten Brink considers the history of the socioeconomic order that has emerged in the People's Republic. With empirical evidence and a theoretical foundation based in comparative and international political economy, ten Brink analyzes the main characteristics of China's socioeconomic system over time, identifies the key dynamics shaping this system's structure, and discusses current trends in further capitalist development. He argues that hegemonic state-business alliances mostly at the local level, relative homogeneity of party-state elites, the maintenance of a low-wage regime, and unanticipated coincidences between domestic and global processes are the driving forces behind China's rise. He also surveys the limits to the state's influence over economic and social developments such as industrial overcapacity and social conflict.Ten Brink's framework reveals how combinations of three heterogeneous actors-party-state institutions, firms, and workers-led to China's distinctive form of capitalism. Presenting a coherent and historically nuanced portrait, China's Capitalism is essential reading for anyone interested in the socioeconomic order of the People's Republic and the significant challenges facing its continuing development.

This Element seeks to develop an empirical research agenda that explores the applicability of the growth model perspective in comparative political economy to emerging capitalist economies (ECEs). Such an approach emphasizes the variety of possible growth models and their implications for development, providing an alternative to universalizing economic models as prevalent in mainstream development discourse. Using national accounts data for several large ECEs in the period from 2001 to 2022, the authors first propose a typology of peripheral growth models with varying degrees of economic vulnerability. Most notably, they add an investment-led model to the prevalent juxtaposition of consumption-led and export-led growth models. Subsequently, they employ several case vignettes from Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand and Vietnam to unpack the effects of volatile international interdependencies, such as commodity cycles, and diverse political underpinnings on peripheral growth models. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

This Element seeks to develop an empirical research agenda that explores the applicability of the growth model perspective in comparative political economy to emerging capitalist economies (ECEs). Such an approach emphasizes the variety of possible growth models and their implications for development, providing an alternative to universalizing economic models as prevalent in mainstream development discourse. Using national accounts data for several large ECEs in the period from 2001 to 2022, the authors first propose a typology of peripheral growth models with varying degrees of economic vulnerability. Most notably, they add an investment-led model to the prevalent juxtaposition of consumption-led and export-led growth models. Subsequently, they employ several case vignettes from Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand and Vietnam to unpack the effects of volatile international interdependencies, such as commodity cycles, and diverse political underpinnings on peripheral growth models. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

This Element scrutinizes the attempts by the Chinese party-state bureaucracy since the 2000s to advance innovation and technological upgrading. It examines insights from the developmental state debate - the need for a bureaucracy to achieve internal coherence and the capacity of that bureaucracy both to forge coalitions between bureaucrats, businessmen, and scientists and to discipline domestic companies. Moreover, it assesses efforts to foster technological upgrading in the semiconductor and electric vehicle industries. While there are significant differences between China and earlier successful developmental states, with the former facing problems such as the legacies of short-termism, limited monitoring capabilities, and flawed discipline over business, the authors find that, compared with other emerging capitalist economies, the Chinese bureaucracy has developed strong capabilities to advance 'innovation-driven development.' This Element seeks to provide avenues for comparing China with other late developers.

In Global Political Economy and the Modern State System Tobias ten-Brink contributes to an understanding of the modern state system, its conflicts and its transformation. In contrast to the political attractiveness of optimistic theoretical approaches to globalisation, this book demonstrates how an analytical approach rooted in Global Political Economy (GPE) helps to explain both the tendencies towards integration and towards rivalry in international relations.

This open access book maps and compares national social policies of socialist and post-socialist countries, examining designs, implementation, and outcomes. It analyses how the generosity of social policies – understood as the combination of their inclusiveness and the scope of benefits they offer – has been conceptualised in different socialist and post-socialist national contexts, how these conceptualisations have shaped the content of social policies, and finally, how the content of social policies has actually been implemented. Thus, the contributions include the ideational, de jure and de facto aspects of social policy in socialist and post-socialist contexts.