This book analyzes how developmental states contributed to economic prosperity, sometimes with spectacular success, and sometimes with less brilliant results.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Those were the days. The Latin American economic and cultural boom vs. the Spanish miracle Miguel A. Centeno, Agustin E. Ferraro and Vivekananda Nemana; Part II. Visions and Politics of Development: 2. CEPAL as idea factory for Latin American development. Intellectual and political influence 1950-90 Joseph Love; 3. The arc of development. Economists and sociologists' quest for the state Margarita Fajardo; 4. From 'showcase' to 'failure'. Democracy and the Colombian developmental state in the 1960s Robert Karl; Part III. Institutional Design: Infrastructural and Territorial Power: 5. One blueprint, three translations: Corporaciones de Fomento in Colombia, Chile and Peru José Carlos Orihuela; 6. The rise and fall of the Instituto Nacional de Planificación in Peru (1962-92): exploring the limits of state capacity building in weak states Eduardo Dargent; 7. A double-edged sword: the institutional foundations of the Brazilian developmental state, 1930-85 Luciana de Souza Leão; 8. Life is a dream. Bureaucracy and industrial development in Spain, 1950-90 Agustin E. Ferraro and Juan José Rastrollo; Part IV. Industry, Trade and Growth: Economic Power: 9. Emergence and maturity of the developmental state in Argentina, Brazil and Spain, 1930-90. An economic history approach Jordi Catalan and Tomàs Fernández-de-Sevilla; 10. The Mexican developmental state, c.1920-c.1980 Alan Knight; 11. The developmental state and the agricultural machinery industry in Argentina Yovanna Pineda; 12. The Chilean developmental state. Political balance, economic accommodation, and technocratic insulation 1924-1973 Patricio Silva; Part V. National and Civic Identities: Symbolic Power: 13. The developmental state and the rise of popular nationalism: cause, coincidence, or elective affinity? Matthias vom Hau; 14. State, nation, and identity in Brazil, 1930-2000 Marshall Eakin; 15. Urban informality, citizenship, and the paradoxes of development Brodwyn Fisher; Part VI. Conclusion: 16. Authoritarianism, democracy, and development in Latin America and Spain 1930-1990 Agustin E. Ferraro and Miguel A. Centeno.