Regional Responses To The Southeast Asian Economic Crisis: A Case Of Self-Help Or No Help?
Published By: IPS on eSS | Published Date: June, 21 , 1999The currency crises of the 1990s, particularly the one that
hit Southeast Asia since the devaluation of the Thai baht on July
2, 1997, are suggestive of the relevance and pervasiveness of
contagion or negative spillover effects that are largely regional in
scope. As such, one of the mantras since the onset of the
Southeast Asian economic crisis has been the need for “regional
solutions to regional problems”. Given that the two focal
institutions in Southeast Asia, viz. the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) were perceived as being successful in their
past attempts in problem-solving, there were high expectations
that such regionalism would be key in finding solutions to the
Southeast Asian economic crisis and mitigating the after-shocks.
Accordingly, this paper evaluates the regional responses to the
crisis, taking stock of both preventive and curative initiatives of significance. While the focus is on ASEAN and APEC, consistent
with the concept of ‘loose’ or ‘non-institutionalised’ regionalism
in Southeast Asia and the larger Asia-Pacific region, other ad hoc
unilateral or bilateral initiatives of significance by other Asian
member countries in APEC are also examined, particularly those
by the region’s dominant economic power, Japan. [Working Paper No. 8]
Author(s): Ramkishen S. Rajan, Chang Li Lin | Posted on: Jul 21, 2010 | Views(1351) | Download (905)