Developmental States and Institutional Uncertainty

Within the analytical framework of the developmental state the institutional environment is given high significance. The quality of the administration, the exchange of information as well as the adaptive efficiency of institutions in promoting growth are perceived to be key factors for economic success.

However, the most important function of a state or any societal institution has received little attention: the provision of stable expectations. The aim of this study is to analyse the institutional setting with respect to the efforts of state elites to ensure institutional predictability for economic growth or to manipulate institutional certainty for political ends.

Based on the theoretical foundation of the New Institutional Economics, a qualitative and quantitative study of institutional (un-)certainty will be conducted. Hereby, institutional (un-)certainty is to be integrated and to be tested as a new variable for explaining the varying economic successes of developmental states.