In the 1960s the Middle East and East Asia had similar per capita income figures, but today figures for East Asia are 10 or more times those for the Middle East. These contrast with a rate of approximately 4 ercent for the Middle East and North Africa. Perhaps the most noteworthy difference is that Asian leaders employ the conservative values of their cultures to construct a developmental vision. This vision emphasizes not only the moral values of cooperation and mutual responsibility but also economic improvement. The value of social equity underlies the system.
Asian corporatism is a mobilizational corporatism.
Middle Eastern corporatism is unmobilized. The Middle Eastern state, prior to the current rise of Islamism, has been one whose leadership has divided its attention between the unresolved conflict with Israel and its own for moral and productive purposes, it has repressed and exploited them. The Middle Eastern corporatist state represents the political and economic status quo. As a result, the Asian worker quickly adapts to new technology, and Asian engineers are able to put their own innovative stamp on modernization and development. Islam's progress is so dramatically important that it compels close examination of this religion of one billion adherents.