Joanne Tomkinson, post-doctoral researcher on the ASA project, has signed contract with Oxford University Press (OUP) to publish her book titled Defying Development Orthodoxies: State-led Development in the Age of Neoliberalism in Ethiopia and Vietnam. The book will be published in 2022.
Defying Development Orthodoxies is a study of power and resistance in the international political economy, comparing the experiences of late developers Ethiopia and Vietnam. Both countries have flouted contemporary development orthodoxies to carve out state-led and manufacturing-oriented development strategies, registering noteworthy records of socio-economic performance along the way.
As well as providing a novel take on the policy choices made by both countries, the book outlines how each has engaged with, and faced challenges from, the World Bank and IMF, World Trade Organization and global value chains (GVCs).
The book draws on extensive fieldwork, including 111 interviews with government policymakers and others connected to the policy process in both countries, as well as a wide range of other official documents and data sources.
It argues that alternatives to development orthodoxies are possible and have proved rather effective in two of the most striking cases of late development in the last several decades, at the same time analysing some of the distinct frailties and challenges facing the two countries. In this regard, the book makes important contributions to debates about prospects for developmentalism in the age of neoliberalism.