The juxtaposition of the late Choson or the Yi state against the colonial state also yields some further insights about “predatory” and “developmental” states. The late Choson state was personalistic and factionalized at the apex, and it had very little downward reach in the society; it was also deeply penetrated by landowning classes. There characteristics bequeathed political incapacity. The result was that the Yi state was quite incapable of laying out and pursuing an agenda of socioeconomic change. By contrast, the colonial state turned out to be a highly efficacious. While this was no developmental state in the sense that it helped developed the whole society – on the contrary, it was a rather brutal, exclusionary state, not to mention that it was a colonial state, - it nevertheless could establish order and facilitate economic growth. How did it achieve this capacity