ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the work of the most important multilateral development organizations (MDOs) – the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – in extending neoliberal policy agendas, from the 1980s on, into Southeast Asia in the name of development. It begins by characterizing the region's experience with the first two phases of neoliberal development policy advanced by MDOs in Southeast Asia since the 1980s – the Washington consensus and the post-Washington consensus (PWC). The chapter illustrates that on the back of impressive growth and reasonable fiscal health, much of the region was able to significantly postpone the impacts of the Washington consensus until the crisis of 1997–98. The ADB has also strongly supported private sector participation in Laos, with loans and guarantees, while also making significant commitments to infrastructure, governance and public sector capacity building.
