ABSTRACT

This chapter begins with a brief sketch of globalization—an unprecedented interaction among open and efficient market conditions, the dominance of liberal theories and values, and the hegemony of transnational actors and institutions. The most visible aspect of this globalization has been the seventeenfold expansion of trade since World War II, which accounted for nearly a quarter of global production by the end of the 1990s. The trade policy options of all modern nations are shaped by the combination of market conditions, theoretical currents, and power relations that constitute globalization. Globalization made trade and capital flows easy, and the absence of a self-sustaining development dynamic in the domestic economy made them essential to produce growth. In Thailand, outward-oriented development benefitted urban dwellers over rural ones, and financial, commercial, and manufacturing interests over agricultural and more traditional sectors. The strategy of outward-oriented development made possible by globalization is then described, together with the dilemmas it must confront.