Development Report on East Asia

The literature on development tackles the matter from many different perspectives. Such as economic growth, and social development. When examining the development process of the East Asian region we shall tackle each perspective and both admire and critique the countries. East Asian countries consist of China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Four of these countries; Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan are also known as the four tigers of East Asia. Generally speaking, East Asia’s process of development is the fastest when compared to the other countries. All of the East Asian countries have gone through many reforms which created the framework for both economic and social growth.

Firstly, when examining the economic growth of the region what we see is quite surprising. Ever since their first establishment, the countries of the region had an agrarian economy which means that the countries were based on an economy that gets its resources and capital through agriculture. While doing so countries took note of the resources they had and the possible courses to follow in order to provide the framework needed for development. With the already established knowledge of the agrarian economy, they figured out that industrialization would provide the most beneficial path during the process of development. When mentioning industrialization two things may come to mind, brick walls and smoking chimneys which is not the case since in this context industrialization meant focusing on specific resources, manufacturing, and providing for a specific area of a resource. After managing to industrialize rapidly, the countries realized that exporting would bring more money to the country and decided to follow an export-oriented economic policy for the future. Producing, manufacturing, and selling to outsiders, while being important and beneficial, can not carry the economic growth by themselves since all the processes also would drain the existing resource the countries had. In order to solve this issue the East Asian countries acknowledged that opening themselves to foreign direct investments would give them the freedom of a steady income from an outsider source, which in this case is beneficial to both parties since while one side gets money to further their works the other will gain profits in the long run. We can not ignore the capabilities and additions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In East Asia, the role that small and medium enterprises contribute a lot to the economic growth of the region and the contributions of these small and medium enterprises do get recognized by the governments which in turn continue to support these small and medium enterprises through many institutions such as the “Main Bank System” of Japan which has close relationships with enterprises and support them to achieve the goals they set out to accomplish. We have mentioned large enterprises, medium and small enterprises but there is another form of enterprise which actually provides both advantages and disadvantages. This is where the conglomerates and chaebols come into the picture. Conglomerates are giant companies that house many other large companies to gain more capital and establish the grounds for further economic growth. This large economic power supports the economic growth path that the country follows but also creates the problem of monopolization of the market since one giant company can acquire other countries to expand their own gain but after the point of becoming a monopoly the market no longer can function as the free market economy that the entire world wishes to function as. Chaebols on the other hand are not as big as the conglomerates but they can be considered as families of companies that work in the same market to gain profit. This system of economic relations offers both cooperation and mutual growth in the process of development but also paves the path for centralized economic power and corporate governance. In the context of East Asia Japan has dealt with the matter of conglomerates through abolishing large conglomerates in order to create the opportunity for everyone to compete and participate in the market economy. While South Korea can be seen as the landlord of chaebols. Countries are not alone in this aim to grow. They know that one simply can not achieve ambitious goals by themselves so we can see many organizations and agreements that are based on cooperation such as the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

The second factor when it comes to examining a country’s development process is the social development factor. Social development can be examined further from many different perspectives and can be categorized through various ideologies. Some may say that the path of social development goes through the equalization of men and women while some may find relations between economic and social spheres through equality of life standards. Before we dive further into the details of the social development of the East Asian region we must acknowledge an important factor. Historical roots/background gets put on a golden pedestal for the East Asian countries. The legacy of the past still plays an important role in the process of development among many other factors. As mentioned above the region has gone under many reforms both economically and socially. The social aspect of these reforms comes in the form of political re-establishments mainly new regimes. The region has witnessed the rise of many dynasties and monarchies however specifically after the 2nd World War, they have transformed themselves to house more democratic political executive bodies. The abolishment of authoritarian regimes (besides China) provided the base for the creation of an environment that allows freedom, equality, and more importantly justice. The governments are chosen by the public act in order to be beneficial to the public themselves by being advocates of development in each sector of social life. Some countries may provide equal access to healthcare or basic human needs while some countries can focus on the personal development of the people in order the further the overall social development of the country. In east Asia, as mentioned before, the legacy of the past shapes the current events as well as the future, and the most important element that gets the most attention is the matter of honor. Ever since the past (possibly the establishment of the countries) East Asian people knew that in order to be a better person one should never act in a way that would either damage their honor or the honor of the family, possibly the honor of the country. The most common example of this matter comes from Japan with the Samurai culture that they have and share through various methods. In today's modern world, the factor of honor is more commonly addressed as being ethical. When a person is ethical any act that they complete will be beneficial while also being the best version that the people can achieve. While being ethical is important for everyone, simply being ethical can not provide enough support for development. Education is important when it comes to creating the said members of society and East Asian countries puts a heavy emphasis to provide the best education that they can to create a workforce that is skilled and ethical and uses many policies and institutions to provide the framework needed to accomplish their goals.

We have covered many beneficial factors of the East Asian region but positive aspects are not the factors that can be observed in the region. There are also downsides to the growth of the region both economically and socially. Each region has to deal with an aging population that can not contribute to the cause as much as the youth can. There is also the depressing truth of the world which is income inequality which is also applicable to the East Asian region. One aspect that can be seen as the most depressing issue is the problem of environmental effects of the process of development. Each step along the process creates the demand for further use of the resources that they have. These can be underground minerals, materials, or the general ecological system that surrounds the region which gets damaged further thanks to the global phenomenon that is global warming.

In conclusion, the region of East Asia has been a significant player in the area of development which faces both positive and negative effects of the process that they follow through.