The developmental state has come under fire from both left and right. Neoliberals see the state as a rent-seeking, corrupt, inefficient, market-distorting parasite. Some on the Left reject the very concept of “development” as normalizing and teleological, fixated on economic growth at the expense of the environment and human rights.

These are often valid points. Yet development — by which I mean economic transformation and technological change — and the developmental state have much to offer.

The ultimate problem our planet faces today is anthropogenic climate change, a problem created by one version of “development.” But the contradiction of development is that it produces both problems and solutions. The climate crisis demands “mitigation” (getting off fossil fuels) and “adaptation” (preparing for changes like rising sea levels and mass migration). Contradictory as it may seem, both require not less development but more and different forms of it.  And, if history is any guide, it will have to be the state that forces capital to act.