ABSTRACT
The alarming environmental decay in East Asia contradicts the presumed philosophical underpinning for advances in the region. It is widely believed that the political commitment of Asian governments to communal wellbeing at the expense of individual rights is their great secret of ‘success.’ There is some irony in the observation, in that many East Asian governments implement programs that are ostensibly designed to serve social aims, at least those aims selected by rulers or bureaucrats. Although many environmentalists may assert that the environmental problems in East Asia are the consequence of unbridled capitalism, there is another angle that explains this peculiar pairing of boom with gloom. The 1996 report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific indicates mixed results. Extensive environmental damage is obvious to even the casual observer in the high-growth areas of Asia.
