ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the interaction between socio-political structures and industrial policy in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It argues that certain features of their socio-political development blocked their abilities to pursue industrial policies. One of the notable features of the ASEAN economies is their rapid industrial growth over the past several decades. In every ASEAN member there were public expressions of hostility toward foreign investment, ranging from student riots in Indonesia and Thailand to public debates in Malaysia and the Philippines. ASEAN was active in global arenas demanding a New International Economic Order premised on the inherent exploitative character of multinational firms. In the anti-foreign climate of the 1970s, the low industrial development of the ASEAN economies made the few foreign firms more prominent, and national elites were unsure of their abilities to control them. Electrical and electronics manufacture in Singapore represent the leading edge of the latter trend, one that later spread to each ASEAN country.
