AWARD CITATION: THE CHARLES H. LEVINE MEMORIAL BOOK PRIZE, 2005
Each year the International Political Science Association’s Research
Committee on the Structure of Governance sponsors the Levine Prize. It is named
in honor of Charles H. Levine, who was a distinguished member of the Research
Committee and served on the editorial board of its official journal, Governance.
The prize is awarded on the recommendation of a distinguished committee. This
year’s committee was composed of Professors Graham K. Wilson (University of
Wisconsin, chair), Bert A. Rockman (Purdue University), and Robert Henry Cox (University
of Oklahoma).
The committee unanimously decided to award the 2005 Levine Prize to Atul
Kohli’s book,
State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global
Periphery, published by
Cambridge University Press
in 2004. In this meticulous analysis of the reasons developing countries succeed
or fail to industrialize, Atul Kohli demonstrates that building an effective
state is a central ingredient. Without effective state capacity, resources are
not efficiently employed, important groups cannot be effectively mobilized, and
political elites fail to pursue coherent policies. Building this capacity may be
achieved under either authoritarian or democratic regimes.
Kohli demonstrates that an effective state is crucial, but not a guarantee that
industrialization will occur. Political leaders must use their power wisely. An
effective state allows leaders to do the three things necessary for making
industrialization work: it provides them with an administrative capacity to
pursue a concerted strategy of industrial development, it allows them to build
necessary linkages with private actors, and it allows them to foster a
nation-wide sense of public purpose that helps to channel investment.
The book provides a detailed examination of the process of industrialization in
Korea, Brazil, India, and Nigeria. The cases represent a broad range across the
developing world. Moreover, by exploring countries that varied in their degrees
of success, Kohli provides convincing evidence that some administrative forms
are better equipped to foster economic development than others. This sensitivity
to historical and institutional legacies enriches the debate over the causes of
economic backwardness.
Atul Kohli’s argument is complex and eschews formulas or simple recipes. His
cases show that much depends on circumstances and the discovery by trial and
error of policies that work. The lesson to be drawn is that there are no simple
solutions, easily duplicated by aspiring industrializers. Instead, leaders must
know the historical and institutional circumstances of their societies, must be
able to identify challenges and opportunities, and must have the political steel
to articulate bold solutions and carry them out.
At a time when international attention centers on the problems of failed states,
State-Directed Development bolsters those who believe that the major challenges
to international security (both economic and political) lie first in building
administrative capacities in the developing world.
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Atul Kohli is the David K. E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs at
Princeton University. He has written or edited nine books and has published some
fifty articles. His most recent publications include The Success of India’s
Democracy (2002) and States, Markets and Just Growth (2003). He has held
fellowships from the Russell Sage Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the
Social Science Research Council, New York.
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