Looking Back on the Asian Crisis: The Question of Convergence

Abstract

The persistence of non-liberal regimes in Asia, even after the financial and economic crisis, raises questions about how social and economic regimes change and the sort of legal and political frameworks required by modern market capitalism. This paper looks at the issue of convergence and critically assesses claims that the apparent failure of market transformation results from poor policies, weak institutions, captured states and weak social capital. It is argued that the failures of convergence call into question the very assumptions that neo-liberal reform requires markets that are open, governments where public and private interest is separated and defined by law, and democratic political systems.