This chapter focuses on industrialisation experiences and industrialisation strategies in developing countries, in the period since 1945. The chapter opens with a discussion of the inward-looking industrialisation strategies of the post-war period in section 9.2. The common characteristic of such strategies was the pursuit of comprehensive industrialisation behind protective barriers. These strategies were characterised by large-scale investment, high degrees of protection and a key role for government. The strategies were based on closed conceptions of the economy.

As time passed, the shortcomings of the post-war approaches became more apparent. Section 9.3 provides an overview of the various criticisms of the dominant post-war policies. This paves the way for a discussion of alternative approaches in sections 9.4 to 9.7. These include unbalanced growth policies which provide more scope for the market, the balanced growth path approach which focuses on the relationship between major sectors of the economy, support for the small-scale and informal sector and the most important alternative: export-oriented industrialisation. In the discussion of export-oriented industrialisation, the role of multinational enterprises and the emergence of global production chains receive special attention. In section 9.8 attention is paid to the debates between proponents of neoliberal market strategies and proponents of more interventionist industry and technology policies. Outcomes of industrialisation policies are discussed in section 9.9.

Introduction

Major technological breakthroughs in textile production and the application of steam power in Great Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century made such a deep impression that in the nineteenth century the term ‘industrial revolution’ was coined to describe them.