This is a challenging survey course of the comparative political economy of East Asia (Northeast and Southeast Asia) which will provide diligent students with comprehensive knowledge of the region and major theories employed to explain economic development and political change. Attention is focused on relations between the state, society and the economy in national settings rather than on cross-national forces around the world that are studied in courses on globalisation. The East Asian region as a whole and the influence of one state's development on another are considered. It thus places economic development and political trajectories in a larger regional and historical context. Statist interventions in national economies have produced some of the world's fastest rates of economic growth under authoritarian developmentalist regimes. But the regimes in the region have faced a dilemma, as rapid modernization, economic crises and/or corruption have often threatened their hold on power. They have thus balanced efforts to upgrade economically with the maintenance of political control.