| This dissertation is to unveil "political mysteries" underlying the East Asian economic miracle. However, unlike many cross-regional comparative studies, this research is focused on the "cross-national micro-dynamics" hidden behind the would-be remarkable macro-similarities. Indeed, looking into the inside of East Asia, the individual economies exhibit substantial variations in development patterns, measured by economic growth, price stability, and income equality.;This quest is motivated by a tri-fold intellectual vacuum. In the conceptual level, while each of the competing paradigms adheres to a self-inflated single determinant force (e.g., the state vs. the market), it is almost improbable to explore the substance of the "multi-faceted" East Asian NIC phenomenon. At the analytic-spatial dimension, while East Asian political-economists overstress regional commonalties, the cross-national variation remains as a virgin territory. Historically, as most studies focus the East Asian EOI era, the ISI or pre-independence eras would be excluded from the research scope.;To complement such problems, five potential political variables (i.e., state autonomy, leadership will, political stabilities, policy capabilities, and ideology/policy orientations) are identified and incorporated into an "eclectic model." The four East Asian NICs are selected from both the early- and late-NICs. And both the ISI and pre-war phases are dealt with.;At a macro-dimension, the cross-national micro-variation in East Asia appears as a function of the varying combinations of the five political forces. Yet, upon close inspection, while policy orientations would function as a direction-generator of development trajectories, state autonomy and leadership will would work as two indispensable prerequisites for shaping, buttressing, and effecting the politically-chosen policies. As if the economy might lose a direction without clear-cut policy orientations, state autonomy alone would not accompany automatic development without a leadership will; and even a noble will of development could not be realized without political autonomy.;All in all, it is concluded that if the micro-dynamics in East Asia were preconditioned by the varying policy orientations, those in the overall development levels would be mandated by different combinations of state autonomy and developmental will. |
