Month: June 2008

Mahathir and the Markets: Globalisation and the Pursuit of Economic Autonomy in Malaysia

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Of the countries affected by the recent economic crisis in East Asia, Malaysia has attracted particular attention. Malaysian policymakers have consistently flouted conventional wisdom about the most appropriate ways of managing the crisis, in particular, and national economies, more generally, in an era characterised by increased international integration, both economic and political. Not only has … Read more

ASEAN and the management of regional security

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This paper is a discussion and evaluation of ASEAN’s efforts to manage its regional security environment (i.e., to affect the actors and events shaping security in Southeast Asia). The main argument of this paper is that ASEAN’s ability to manage regional security in Southeast Asia has been, and is, limited by two factors: one, the … Read more

ASEAN, AFTA and the “new regionalism”

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The wave of economic regionalism underway since the mid-late 1980s has been joined by the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which formed the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in January 1993 with the aim of creating a Free Trade Area in the region by the (revised) target date of 2003. This … Read more

ASEAN’s new challenges

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In theoretical terms the pressures that ASEAN faces today could be depicted as a clash between the old and new regionalism. Old regionalism has been characterized as a product of the cold war, as inward-looking, exclusive and created by governments for specific security or economic purposes. New regionalism, in contrast, is outward-looking, nonexclusive and multidimensional … Read more

Asean at crossroads with borderless regions

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Asean at crossroads with borderless regions By MOHAMED ARIFF, Columnist, New Straits TimesJune 7, 2008     With regional borders moving like shifting sands, Asean faces the challenge of reinventing itself to remain relevant, writes MOHAMED ARIFFTHE rising tide of economic regionalism has changed the landscape beyond recognition, as reflected by the growing number of … Read more