Date of Award

8-1984

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. David Lewis

Second Advisor

Dr. David Chaplin

Third Advisor

Dr. Alfred Ho

Abstract

This is an inquiry into the nature and developmental role of state capitalism (SC) in the Third World. In an effort to enhance understanding of the problem of underdevelopment in general and to gain understanding of state capitalism in particular, contributions and limitations of basic theories of development were examined via a positive critique. State capitalism, as a political movement under the political leadership of middle classes, is a response to the structural crisis and chronic crisis of authority to which misborn capitalism has been facing in the Third World since its emergence. Once state capitalism comes to exist, the state tends to consolidate and expand its guardian role in the economy at the expense of the private sector. In contrast to the private capitalist model, in which national resources are allocated via market under political and bureaucratic constraints, under the state capitalist model national resources are allocated via central bureaucratic planning under market constraints. Given the fact that state capitalism is polyclass, it tends to emphasize integrative politics through populist ideology. State capitalism rationalizes integrative politics by placing emphasis on the common interests of the entire population, nationalism and with selective reference to socialist rhetorics and traditional thoughts.

The question which has been addressed at the empirical level is whether or not state capitalism as a model of development can be regarded as a successful alternative as compared to the private capitalist model. To provide at least a tentative answer to this question a cross-national research was conducted. The research sample included all non-Communist countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, except countries with less than one million population. Five sets of variables were used as the overall indicators of socio-economic performance. These are: physical quality of life variables (PQLV), variables of income inequality and poverty, measures of economic development and growth, dependency variables and military expenditure. Two models were utilized for data analysis: the regression model and the quasi-experimental model.

The findings showed that there are virtually many more similarities than differences between state capitalist countries and private capitalist countries in terms of their socio-economic performance. In terms of physical quality of life conditions there is not a significant difference between the two groups of countries. . . .

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Dissertation-Open Access

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