Political Economic Comparison to the Role of the State in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam

The modern state should be seen as a relatively autonomous and essential actor formulating and implementing distinctive strategies for economic development. With the political economic background of the inherent colonial legacy and the changing world economic environment, the role of the state in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam is analyzed on a comparative basis in this article. Despite of some divergence, the three Southeast Asian countries shared the similarity of the bureaucratic state and the state－led development. Based on the similarity, each state’s trajectory is examined in the historical context prior to the advent of Asian economic crisis in 1997. On the other hand, they took unique economic paths as much as their political settings. Then the role of the state showed various degree of difference with respect to penetration into the society and adaptation to the world economy. The degree of penetration and adaptation by the state varied with distinctive political economic situation of each Southeast Asian country.