Asian co-operative laws from developmental state and norm locarization perspectives

• Author: Akira Kurimoto
• Pages: 257-272

CAPÍTULO 14

Asian co-operative laws from developmental

state and norm locarization perspectives

A K

Senior Fellow

Japan Co-operative Alliance

Summary: 1. Introduction. 2. Developmental state perspective. 3. Evolution of asian

co-operative laws: five cases: 3.1. Japan. 3.2. South korea. 3.3 singapore. 3.4.

China. 3.5. India. 4. Norm localization of asian co-operatives. 5. Conclusion:

need to wake the co-operative potential in the asian century. 6. Bibliography.

1. INTRODUCTION

When we analyze the characteristics of Asian co-operatives, the East-

West discourse is often used. From the West, Asia is often seen as static and

less-developed area plagued by the despotism and the traditional culture as

Edward Said put it ‘orientalism’. On the other hand, some political leaders like

Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia’s Mohamad Mahathir propagated the

Asian values preferring social harmony, community well-being and loyalty to

figures of authority as against the individualistic Western values to justify their

authoritarian regime. The latter lost its currency in the wake of financial crisis

in the late 1990s, while it seems to revive in tandem with the rise of China after

the 2000s. We have noticed the limitation of Western-based categories such as

coordinated market economy (Germany, France etc.) versus liberal market

economy (USA, UK etc.) in applying to the Asian economies (Kurimoto,

2020).

258 Akira Kurimoto

We have observed a gradual shift of Asian countries from agrarian

economy to export-driven industrial economy, from the authoritarian rule

to more democratic regime since the 1980s although we witness serious

setbacks in Myanmar and other countries. There is a growing concern about

the international tension related with the rise of China. Asia covers a huge

area and population, characterized by a sheer diversity in the political system,

level of development, culture and religion while their political economy can

be generally explained by a notion of developmental state. We are concerned

about Asia is converging to a new world order or diverging from the West. We

are also questioning whether Asian co-operatives are going to converge to a

single model represented in the Western co-operatives or diverge as specific

entities. (Kurimoto, 2005).

This chapter examines the nature of the Asian co-operative laws based

on the perspectives of developmental state and norm localization that

characterize the Asia political economy including the legal aspects. From this

perspective, it describes the evolution of co-operative laws in Japan, South

Korea, Singapore, China and India belonging to the different legal traditions

of civil law, common law and socialist law. Then it compares these cases from

the norm localization perspective. Finally, it considers how to enhance the

positioning of Asian co-operatives in the projected Asian Century.

2. DEVELOPMENTAL STATE PERSPECTIVE

Developmental state is a term used by international political economy

scholars to refer to the phenomenon of state-led macroeconomic planning

in East Asia in the late 20th century. In this model of capitalism, the state has

more independent political power, as well as more control over the economy.

A developmental state is characterized by having strong state intervention,

as well as extensive regulation and planning. The term has subsequently

been used to describe countries outside East Asia that satisfy the criteria of a

developmental state.

The first person to seriously conceptualize the developmental state was

Chalmers Johnson who defined the developmental state as a state that is

focused on economic development and takes necessary policy measures to

accomplish that objective. He argued that Japan’s economic development

had much to do with a wide range of intervention for the industrialization

by bureaucrats, particularly those in the Ministry of International Trade and

Industry (MITI).