Foundations for a Developmental State: A case for technical education

This paper studies the viability of making a country a developmental state. In particular it studies the characteristics of a developmental state and how they are linked to technology. It then identifies technical education, as a vital force for the creation of a developmental state. In particular it identifies analytical, numeracy, computational and communication skills as vital forces for a society to create a developmental society. Introduction The goal of a democratic state is to establish a society in which the citizens are intellectually, socially, economically and politically empowered (Marwala, 2007b). In order to achieve this noble goal, certain conditions need to be in place in order to mobilize social, economic and political forces to capacitate the state to galvanize the productive forces that would ensure that these goals are achieved (Marwala, 2005b&c). One school of thought regarding the mechanism through which these productive forces can be galvanized, which is the subject of this paper, is to reorient the state as a developmental state (Chang, 1999). By so doing, sufficient productive forces will be unleashed to advance industrialization and this will principally require significant investment into technical education in primary, secondary and tertiary levels (Marwala, 2005a). This technical education should focus on creating a society that has sufficient analytical, numeracy, creative, computer and communication skills in society. Developmental State A developmental state is a state where government is intimately involved in the macroand micro-economic planning in order to grow the economy (Onis, 1991). It has generally been observed that successful developmental states are able to advance their economies much faster than regulatory states that use regulations to manage the economy. As an example, it took the USA approximately 50 years to double its economy while it took China, which is a developmental state, approximately 10 years to double its economy. Based on these findings, is it logical to infer that for a country to meet its social, economic and political obligations, it should become a developmental state? What are some of the characteristics that define a developmental state and is it possible to establish such characteristics in South Africa, which is case that would be considered in