South East Asia has for many centuries occupied a pivotal position in the wider Asian economy, linking China and the Far East with India and the Middle East, and since the early 1500s the region has also played a major role in the world-economy. South East Asia in the World-economy is a textbook survey of the area's interaction with these wider regional and international structure. Professor Chris Dixon demonstrates how this region's role has undergone frequent and profound chance as a result of the successive emergency and dominance of mercantile, industrial and finance capital. He shows how the region has developed as a supplier of luxury product, such as spices; as a producer of bulk primary products; and how, since the mid 1960s, it has become a major recipient of investment and a favoured location for European and American markets. The author examines how these phases in the evolution of the international economy have been reflected in the relations of evolution of the production and in the spatial pattern of economic activity. He also discusses how the progressive integration of South East Asia in the world-economy has established the dominance of a small number of core areas and produced a pattern of uneven development throughout the region. In a concluding chapter, Chris Dixon explores the prospects for South East Asia in the 1990s in the light of the restructuring of the world-economy.

This multi-authored book looks at one of the most dynamic regions of the Third World within the context of the rapidly changing international system of the 1990s. Among the many themes it explores are ASEAN's new political roles and new modes of economic cooperation, the growing importance of ecological and human rights issues, the policies of the major external powers towards the region, the Cambodian and Spratly conflicts, and the relevance of Southeast Asian experience in the 'New World Order' to the ongoing theoretical debates about democracy, the market, the state and multilateralism.

While economic globalization benefited Southeast Asia, especially during the 1990s boom, the region now seems to be caught between two emerging economic giants - China and India. What challenges and opportunities does the rise of China and India pose for Southeast Asia and how should policy-makers respond? Are bilateral free trade arrangements and bilateral economic partnerships a boon or bane for competitiveness? In identifying approaches and strategies to coping with these challenges and leveraging on the opportunities available, this book also links the quest for competitiveness with the necessity of social protection. The link comes in the form of the people who work for firms as human resources, and as users and innovators of technology. The book acknowledges and discusses the problems of inadequate technological and innovative capacity and the problems of managing labour productivity in Southeast Asia. However, the book also cautions against focusing on people solely as productive labour, whether in production or the knowledge sector. By highlighting the adverse social, economic and political consequences of ignoring social protection issues and challenging the myth that addressing social protection undermines competitiveness, the book emphasizes the social responsibilities incumbent on governments and firms in this age of growing economic insecurities.

This book is about power in a changing world economy. Though power is ubiquitous in the study of International Political Economy, the concept is underdeveloped in formal theoretical terms. This collection of essays analyses recent experience in East Asia to advance our theoretic understanding of state power in IPE. Over the last quarter century, no other region of the world has had a greater impact on the global distribution of economic resources and capabilities. China, with its "peaceful rise," now stands as the second largest national economy on the face of the earth; South Korea and Taiwan have become industrial powerhouses; Hong Kong and Singapore are among the world’s most important financial centres; and new poles of growth have emerged in several southeast Asian countries – all while Japan, long the region’s dominant market, has slipped into seemingly irreversible decline. The volume’s nine essays, contributed by leading scholars in the United States, Britain and Taiwan, aim to extract relevant inferences and insights from these developments for the study of state power. All are framed by a core agenda encompassing four key clusters of questions concerning the meaning, sources, uses, and limits of power. These essays ask: What new lessons are offered for power analysis in International Political Economy?

East and Southeast Asia is a vast and complex region. Its countries have a bewildering array of histories, demographics, economic structures, cultural backgrounds, and global marketing potential. This Handbook unravels the mystery. Each chapter is written by a country specialist and provides a thorough and up-to-date analysis of one of the ESEA countries. Each author follows a consistent model and covers geography and natural resources, the political system, the economic system, the social system, and the marketing environment. Complete chapters are devoted to: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China and Hong Kong, East Timor, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (North and South), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Not just a review of current conditions, the Handbook offers prognoses for future marketing and commercial activity in each country. This definitive resource is generously illustrated with maps, figures, and tables, and includes comprehensive references and source materials for each country. It is an essential reference for students, researchers, and practitioners in the global economy.

This book analyses the growth, development and crisis experiences of the Southeast Asian economies, in particular, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- also known as ASEAN-5. The proposition is developed that the robust economic performance of the Southeast Asian economies during the past four decades has been attributed to the various factors, developments and independent national policies which have been pursued by the individual member countries rather than to any regional economic framework. The book covers eleven topics which is suitable for a one-semester course on the economics of Southeast Asia. Also, it has a narrower area coverage as it focuses only on the five economies, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The sectoral treatment of the crisis impact and the analytical treatment of policy responses to the crisis differentiate this book from other publications on the same topic. Finally, the book provides an analysis of national developments, policies and factors which have contributed to the economic transformation of the respective Southeast Asian economies.

"This is not only the best collection of essays on the political economy of Southeast Asia, but also, as a singular achievement of the “Murdoch School”, one of the rarest of books that demonstrates how knowledge production travels across generations, institutions and time periods, thereby continually enriching itself. No course on Southeast Asia can afford to miss it as its core text." (Professor Amitav Acharya, American University, USA) "This book – the fourth in a path-breaking series – demonstrates why a critical political economy approach is more crucial than ever for understanding Southeast Asia's transformation. Across a wide range of topics, the book explains how capitalist development and globalisation are reshaping the societies, economies and politics of a diverse group of countries, casting light on the deep sources of economic and social power in the region. This is a book that every student of Southeast Asia needs to read." (Professor Edward Aspinall, Australian National University, Australia) "This book does what a work on political economy should do: challenge existing paradigms in order to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of social transformation. This volume is distinctive in three ways. First, it eschews methodological nationalism and focuses on how the interaction of national, regional, and global forces are shaping and reshaping systems of governance, mass politics, economies, labor-capital relations, migration, and gender relations across the region. Second, it is a bold effort to show how the “Murdoch School,” which focuses on the dynamic synergy of internal class relations and global capitalism, provides a better explanatory framework for understanding social change in Southeast Asia than the rival “developmental state” and “historical institutionalist” approaches. Third, alongside established luminaries in the field, it showcases the younger generation of political economists doing pathbreaking work on different dimensions of the political economy of the region." (Walden Bello, State University of New York at Binghamton, USA, and Former Member of the Philippines’ House of Representatives) "This very timely fourth edition explores Southeast Asia’s political economy within the context of hyperglobalisation and China’s pronounced social-structural impacts on international politics, finance and economics over the past decade and a half. The volume successfully adopts a cross-cutting thematic approach, while also conveying the diversity and divergences among the Southeast Asian states and economies. This will be an important resource for scholars of International Relations and Comparative Politics, who need to take an interest in a dynamic and increasingly significant part of Asia." (Professor Evelyn Goh, Australian National University, Australia) “This ambitious collection takes a consistent theoretical approach and applies it to a thematic, comparative analysis across Southeast Asia. The yield is impressive: the social, political and economic forces constituting the current conjuncture are not simply invoked, they are thoroughly identified and explained. By posing the deceptively simple questions of what is happening and why, the authors demonstrate the reciprocal relation between theory-building and empirical inquiry, providing a model of engaged scholarship with global resonance. Bravo!" (Professor Tania Li, University of Toronto, Canada) "Counteracting the spaceless and flattened geography of much literature on uneven development, this book delivers a forensic examination of the unevenness of geographical development in Southeast Asia and the relations of force shaping capital, state, nature and civil society. This is the most compelling theoretical and empirical political economy book available on Southeast Asia." (Professor Adam David Morton, University of Sydney, Australia) "A vital book for all scholars, students and practitioners concerned with political economy and development, this volume combines cutting-edge theory with rich and wide-ranging empirical analysis. It is terrific to see the continued success of this book with this fully revised fourth edition." (Professor Nicola Philips, Kings College London, UK) "The Political Economy of Southeast Asia has become a leading reference for students of the region. With its breadth of geographic scope, timely themes, clarity of prose and rigour of analysis, Carroll, Hameiri and Jones have ensured that with this fourth edition the volume will continue its landmark status. The book, which brings together prominent experts in the field, will not only be of immense interest to scholars studying Southeast Asia, but also those seeking to understand the multifaceted nature of the political economy of uneven development in contemporary capitalism." (Professor Susanne Soederberg, Queen’s University, Canada) "The Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University has long produced leading analyses of the social, economic and political developments in Southeast Asia. This volume carries on that wonderful tradition. It brings together top-class scholars to challenge our assumptions about one of the most dynamic parts of the world. This collection is a crucial read for anyone interested in understanding trends in Southeast Asia’s development today and into the future." (Professor Richard Stubbs, McMaster University, Canada) "This fourth volume in a distinguished series provides a welcome and timely update of the Murdoch School’s distinctive approach to understanding the evolving political economy of Southeast Asia. Its theoretical depth and wide empirical scope will be of great value to scholars, students and practitioners seeking a systematic understanding of the political economy dynamics in the Asian region and, more broadly, of states and regions embedded in a complex, unstable global political economy." (Professor Andrew Walter, University of Melbourne) This all-new fourth edition of The Political Economy of Southeast Asia constitutes a state-of-the-art, comprehensive analysis of the political, economic, social and ecological development of one of the world’s most dynamic regions. With contributions from world-leading experts, the volume is unified by a single theoretical approach: the Murdoch School of political economy, which foregrounds struggles over power and resources and the evolving global context of hyperglobalisation. Themes considered include gender, populism, the transformation of the state, regional governance, aid and the environment. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students across multiple disciplines, including political economy, development studies, international relations and area studies. The findings of contributors will also be of value to civil society, policymakers and anyone interested in Southeast Asia and its development.

This book is an introduction to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the economic community founded by Southeast Asian nations. It provides both economic profiles of the member nations and an explanation of the Community itself. This book also discusses the impact of China on the AEC. The book is a starting point for research into the region or into any member country, whether for academic or for business purposes. With over 170 tables and figures as well as an abundance of historical facts, the book offers data-based insights.

Recent changes in the global economy and in Southeast Asian national political economies have led to new forms of commodity production and new commodities. Using insights from political economy and commodity studies, the essays in Taking Southeast Asia to Market trace the myriad ways recent alignments among producers, distributors, and consumers are affecting people and nature throughout the region. In case studies ranging from coffee and hardwood products to mushroom pickers and Vietnamese factory workers, the authors detail the Southeast Asian articulations of these processes while also discussing the broader implications of these shifts. Taken together, the cases show how commodities illuminate the convergence of changing social forces in Southeast Asia today, as they transform the terms, practices, and experiences of everyday life and politics in the global economy.

A recent study by the Asian Development Bank notes that by 2050, Asia's per capita income would rise six-fold to reach Europe's levels today, one of many indications of Asia's "re-emergence". By then, Asia's share of global GDP would have doubled and it would have regained the dominant economic position it once held some 300 years ago before the industrial revolution.What is less well-known is that during the previous eras of globalization, Asia was also regionally integrated and globally connected. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Asia was divided and fragmented.This unique book argues that, led by the economic dynamism and "re-encountering" between China and India, we are witnessing the "Renaissance of Asia". As in the bygone eras, Asia is integrating within itself and the global economy is intensifying, now driven by market-oriented production networks and economic policies. Asia is starting to be "re-centered" as trade and investment relations between South Asia and East Asia surge. Asia's rise is a restoration of the past, not a revolution. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the economic development of Asia.