UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Human Sciences
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DVA3701: Development Theory
Assignment 7 — Semester 1, 2026
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DVA3701
Module Code:
Development Theory
Module Name:
The NIC Developmental Model:
Essay Topic:
East Asian Success and South Africa
Assignment 7
Assignment Number:
17 April 2026
Due Date:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for Development Theory (DVA3701) — UNISA 2026
, UNISA | DVA3701 NICs Developmental Model – Assignment 7
Introduction
Between the 1960s and the 1990s, a group of small East Asian economies achieved rates of
industrialisation and economic growth that had no precedent in modern development history.
South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, collectively known as the East Asian Tigers,
transformed themselves from low-income agrarian or entrepot economies into industrialised
exporters of manufactured goods and, eventually, of high-technology products. South Ko-
rea, which had a per capita income lower than Ghana’s in 1960, had become a high-income
OECD member by the late 1990s. The developmental model these countries employed, char-
acterised by an activist state directing industrial transformation through a combination of
industrial policy, public investment, and managed integration into global markets, became the
most extensively studied case of late development success in the twentieth century (Evans,
2014).
The question addressed in this essay is whether South Africa can emulate this model. The
statement being critically examined is that the NIC developmental model was successful in
East Asia but that South Africa does not have the capacity to replicate it. The essay proceeds
in three stages. First, it provides a historical overview of the developmental model used by the
NICs. Second, it offers a balanced assessment of the successes and challenges the model
produced, both in East Asia and in the limited African cases where elements of it have been
attempted. Third, it discusses the specific reasons why this model is likely to face severe
obstacles or fail in South Africa’s current context, drawing on Evans (2014), Kieh (2015), and
Seekings (2015).
Page 2 of 15
College of Human Sciences
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
DVA3701: Development Theory
Assignment 7 — Semester 1, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
DVA3701
Module Code:
Development Theory
Module Name:
The NIC Developmental Model:
Essay Topic:
East Asian Success and South Africa
Assignment 7
Assignment Number:
17 April 2026
Due Date:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for Development Theory (DVA3701) — UNISA 2026
, UNISA | DVA3701 NICs Developmental Model – Assignment 7
Introduction
Between the 1960s and the 1990s, a group of small East Asian economies achieved rates of
industrialisation and economic growth that had no precedent in modern development history.
South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, collectively known as the East Asian Tigers,
transformed themselves from low-income agrarian or entrepot economies into industrialised
exporters of manufactured goods and, eventually, of high-technology products. South Ko-
rea, which had a per capita income lower than Ghana’s in 1960, had become a high-income
OECD member by the late 1990s. The developmental model these countries employed, char-
acterised by an activist state directing industrial transformation through a combination of
industrial policy, public investment, and managed integration into global markets, became the
most extensively studied case of late development success in the twentieth century (Evans,
2014).
The question addressed in this essay is whether South Africa can emulate this model. The
statement being critically examined is that the NIC developmental model was successful in
East Asia but that South Africa does not have the capacity to replicate it. The essay proceeds
in three stages. First, it provides a historical overview of the developmental model used by the
NICs. Second, it offers a balanced assessment of the successes and challenges the model
produced, both in East Asia and in the limited African cases where elements of it have been
attempted. Third, it discusses the specific reasons why this model is likely to face severe
obstacles or fail in South Africa’s current context, drawing on Evans (2014), Kieh (2015), and
Seekings (2015).
Page 2 of 15
