Review

Abstract

The Catholic Institute of International Relations has attempted to provide an “account of the involvement of West European companies in the Philippines” (p. ix). The book is organized in chapters around major sectors of economic activity: traditional exports, nontraditional exports, manufacturing and trading, and so on, with one chapter devoted to the major industrial projects that the Marcos regime attempted to launch in the late 1970s. Considerable information is included, but it is presented rather haphazardly. No consistent set of information is presented either on the European firms involved in the Philippines or the projects themselves. Moreover, the book is limited by a lack of analytical focus. The usefulness of the volume will be primarily as a reference source on European direct investment in the Philippines.