Nicholas Jepson’s book offers a unique angle to understand the rise of the Global South in the twenty-first century. The monograph argues that the commodity boom during 2002 to 2013, which was mainly driven by China’s insatiable thirst for natural resources, enabled resource-rich developing countries to leave the orbit of Western countries’ neoliberalist policy framework and gain autonomy to implement their own development agenda. The research angle is indeed original and insightful. It has become cliché to say that China’s stellar economic growth has changed the world. The author focuses on a special aspect of China’s global impact and convincingly demonstrates how China’s industrialization significantly raised the demands for primary materials and drove commodity prices high. The revenue windfall has provided resource exporters with abundant funds while reducing their dependance on traditional donors. Through typological analysis of the process and mechanism of the commodity boom-related transformation in 15 developing countries, the author argues that the domestic political forces and social structures of these countries are what determine the directions of change. Those countries which have a substantial social class that suffers from neoliberalism tend to turn their policies in the opposite direction, whereas the countries in which the majority of the public benefits from donors’ aid do not make radical changes even with the new financial capability.
This book is a comprehensive investigation of the socio-economic and political transformations in the Global South. The arguments are supported with solid statistical data and rigorous historical studies of each country. In particular, the cases on Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Angola, and Zambia are thoroughly examined with detailed information and insight into the policy-making process. The review on the origin and nature of neoliberalism is also helpful for readers to grasp its nuance.
However, the limits of the author’s research angle are noteworthy as well. First, although the book is entitled “In China’s Wake,” the discussion does not give sufficient attention to China’s multifaceted influences, but merely views China’s rise as the cause for the commodity boom. It is comprehensible that the author wants to stay concentrated in his research, but it also seriously simplifies the transformative dynamism in the Global South. The influence of China’s rise on other countries’ development strategy goes far beyond the price hike and import growth of natural resources. On the one hand, China actively works with developing countries in social and political domains as well as in manufacturing and construction sectors, which generate broad impacts on the policy direction and social structure of these countries. On the other hand, the eagerness of learning China’s growth experience attracts many countries to adjust their strategies according to the Chinese socio-economic model rather than the neoliberalist one. The importance of the financial aspect in comparison to other aspects also needs to be analyzed.
Second, the book only examines how external factors have changed developing countries’ domestic strategies. It would be interesting to see how the transformation of these countries conversely influences the external world. If more resource-rich countries break away from neoliberalism, will it lead to enhanced ties among non-Western countries and further weaken the dominance of the West? How will changes in the policy direction of the Global South impact the global commodities market and the current international financial system? While it’s a merit for the researcher to be focused, it would be beneficial to note the multi-dimensional dynamism of these changes.
Third, the book has a quite narrow time frame and selection of countries. The study of the 12-year period between 2002 to 2013 is too short to show the sustainability and consequences of the strategy shifts clearly. The discussion on the post-2013 period is not systematic enough for readers to be able to tell whether the policy shifts have continued in general or stopped immediately after the boom was over. The examination chooses countries which are resource rich but heavily indebted, and the author does not explain the significance of this category for each of the countries examined. Are they representative in the Global South or can they shed light on the development theories? The findings of the specific period and country type need to be situated in the bigger picture.
Finally, the author considers the international financial institutes (IFI) and the Western donors as firm advocates for neoliberalism, arguing that the selected countries would not have been able to implement industrial policies and have state support if they had not managed to get rid of the conditionalities accompanying the IFIs’ loans. This view does not take the IFIs’ evolution and reforms into account. Corresponding to the trend of global development, the IFIs have been continuously modifying their strategies and emphasizing the diversification of policy tools. The departure from neoliberalism should not be solely attributed to the “break away” of developing countries from the traditional donors. In the meantime, liberalization policies in developing countries are not necessarily the result of following neoliberalism. A key element of China’s economic growth has been its successful transformation from a planned economy to a market economy, albeit not necessarily a “free market” one. David Harvey even regards the China Model as inherently neoliberalist in his narrative of neoliberalism. Therefore, neither liberalization nor de-liberalization can be directly linked to the traditional donors’ conditionality or developing countries’ policy autonomy. Even so, this does not deny the originality and rigorousness of Jepson’s work. It is rather my expectation that his research can help us understand more about the fundamental transformations happening in the current global system.
Tsinghua University, Beijing