Rapacious Regimes

Abstract

This chapter analyzes a third distinct assemblage, namely East Asia's rapacious regimes, most conspicuously the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Myanmar, and the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos. These three stand as antitransformational contrasts that pose the question of why, despite enjoying among the best “objective” conditions for economic success in the 1950s and 1960s, these three languished for decades while neighboring countries raced ahead. Strong as the rip tide of the Asian economic miracle was, it stirred little more than limp ripples in several of the region's backwaters. Rather than floating along with the regional tide, regimes in these countries swam against the current, rejecting economic transformation while exploiting their populations rather than improving their lot. Understanding the regional mix behind such rejection reflects valuable light back on the regime arrangements supporting regional successes.