ABSTRACT
The currency and market turmoils and their impacts in East Asia since July 1997, as even economists now accept, are every bit as much political crises as they are economic ones. Indeed, the political manifestations of these events will linger long after the necessary reforms have been introduced to return at least a semblance of economic normalcy to the region. This chapter assesses some of these longer term political implications. It attempts to do so through Asian-tinted lenses rather than Anglo-American ones. This is deliberate. The chapter offers an alternative reading of the East Asian economic crisis to that which prevails in the mainstream of western policy analysis. It does so because perceptions matter in politics and the perceptions presented here appear closer to the hearts of many influential members of the East Asian public and private sector policy-making elites than is often assumed amongst their American and European counterparts. As such these perceptions, and the politics they spawn at elite levels – and increasingly at civil society levels – will be crucial to understanding future national and international policy in the region.
