The Asian Development Bank and the Asian Financial Crisis: Openness and Inclusion, 1997-2000

Abstract

This is the first of three linked working papers which analyse the discourse produced by the Asian Development Bank, principally in successive Asian Development Outlooks, from 1996-7 onwards. Very extensive use is made of direct quotation, in order to provide substantial illustration of the analysis offered. The papers will serve as a point of reference for more synthetic analysis to be developed elsewhere. It may be, too, that they will serve a purpose to other researchers interested in the arguments developed by the Bank over the period. An identical common introduction, setting out briefly the analytical framework adopted, appears in each of the three papers. It situates the analysis in a classical Marxist framework which interprets the production of discourse and ideas in their material context, presenting the ADB as a representative of 'Asian capital in general', committed to the development of capitalism on a global scale, and adapting its discourse from moment to moment in accordance with the changing material context – in the global economy, and in Asia. The first paper covers the period from 1996-7 to 2000. At its centre, therefore, is the 'Asian financial crisis' and the Bank's reaction to it. It is argued that while the Bank did not predict the crisis, it responded to it quickly by adapting in its discourse in order to orient Asian governments towards the long-term objective of successful integration into the global capitalist economy. With this objective in mind, it interpreted the crisis as providing evidence for the need for further structural reforms, both to further the development of the world market, and to transform state-society relations and social relations of production across Asia.