Winner of the American Political Science Association's 2008 Don K. Price Award for the Best Book in Science and Technology Politics

Finalist for the 2007 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award in the Political Science category.

In this book Dan Breznitz asks why economies of different countries develop in different ways, and his answer relies on his exhaustive research into the comparative experiences of Israel, Taiwan, and Ireland—states that made different choices to nurture the growth of their IT industries.

The 1990s brought surprising industrial development in emerging economies around the globe: firms in countries not previously known for their high-technology industries moved to the forefront in new Information Technologies (IT) by using different business models and carving out unique positions in the global IT production networks. In this book Dan Breznitz asks why economies of different countries develop in different ways, and his answer relies on his exhaustive research into the comparative experiences of Israel, Taiwan, and Ireland—states that made different choices to nurture the growth of their IT industries.

The role of the state in economic development has changed, Breznitz concludes, but it has by no means disappeared. He offers a new way of thinking about state-led rapid-innovation-based industrial development that takes into account the ways production and innovation are now conducted globally. And he offers specific guidelines to help states make advantageous decisions about research and development, relationships with foreign firms and investors, and other critical issues.

Dan Breznitz is assistant professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology. He lives in Atlanta.

"In this important book, Dan Breznitz provides new insights into the very different strategies pursued by three very different countries-Israel, Taiwan and Ireland-that each used to post remarkable post-War growth records. This is a must read for policy makers and citizens in all countries that are banking on high-tech to sustain and accelerate growth in their countries."-Robert E. Litan, Vice President, Research and Policy, The Kauffman Foundation, and, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution

Visit Innovation and the State: Political Choice and Strategies for Growth in Israel, Taiwan, and Ireland Download Page

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Hardcover: 288 pages
Author: Dan Breznitz
Publisher: Yale University Press; Revised & Us edition (August 22, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0300120184
ISBN-13: 978-0300120189

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations, ix
Acknowledgments, xi
List of Abbreviations, xv
1. Plurality, Choice, and the Politics of Industrial Innovation, 1
2. The Development of the IT Industry in Israel: Maximization
of R&D as an Industrial Policy, 41
3. The Development of the IT Industry in Taiwan: Public
Research Institutions as Growth Impetus? 97
4. A Misunderstood “Miracle”: The State and the Growth of the
IT Industry in Ireland, 146
Conclusion: Comparing Choices and Consequences in Rapid
Innovation–Based Industrialization, 190
Notes, 211
References, 235
Index, 251

Chapter 1 Plurality, Choice, and the Politics of Industrial Innovation

This book is about choice. Its main argument is that, contrary to what we are led to believe, the current processes of intensified globalization give emerging economies a larger number of economic-development alternatives than they have had since World War II. This is especially true, I argue, in the case of rapid innovation–based (RIB) industries.

A general truism today is that both the onslaught of international economic forces and the fragmentation of production limit the power of states to set unique courses of successful economic growth. And yet in this book I argue that these same conditions have given states more choices of action than ever before, for the increasing complexity and openness of the world allow developing states that wish to engage with the international economic system a far larger number of entry points than in any other period. ...

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