States, Markets, and Economic Security in Post-Crisis East Asia

Abstract

The crisis that has affected East Asia since the middle of 1997 has raised a number of important questions about the styles of economic and political organisation that predominate in the region. Much attention has been paid to the apparent need for reform, particularly along the sorts of market-centred lines advocated by organisations like APEC and the IMF. And yet despite the difficult conditions confronting many Asian economies, there is a continuing resistance to such reforms on the part of a number of regional political elites. This paper explores the sources of this resistance, and argues that it is best understood as flowing from an enduring desire for economic security that has been central to East Asian patterns of public policy.