State capacities and development: revisiting despotic and infrastructural power from the periphery

Abstract

This paper examines divergent development trajectories in East Asia and Latin America by exploring state capacities in directing capital accumulation. While institutional differences are often emphasised, this study highlights deeper historical and geopolitical paths of state formation and intervention. Engaging with Michael Mann’s concepts of ‘despotic’ and ‘infrastructural’ power and Helio Jaguaribe’s ideas of ‘external permissiveness’ and ‘internal viability’, the paper underscores how state capacities shaped distinct development outcomes in these peripheral regions amid systemic-cyclical shifts from the late 20th to early 21st centuries.