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ABSTRACT
In response to the limited engagement with critical social science concerning the governance of Islamic banking and finance (IBF), this paper compares and conceptualizes the development and governance of IBF in Malaysia and Singapore. We argue that IBF governance in Malaysia and Singapore can be distinguished on the basis of ethnic politics, moral suasion, product demand, product innovation, and the character of state practices. Concerning the latter, we contend that the political economy of both countries can be characterized as broadly involving a ‘neoliberal-developmentalism’, but we nuance this by positing a transition in Malaysia from a ‘semi-developmentalism’ in the 1980s to what we call an ‘Islamic and internationalising ordoliberalism’ beginning in the 2000s. In turn, the governance of IBF in Singapore involves a combination of neoliberal developmentalism, which nonetheless also entails some form of Islamic ordoliberalism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. There has been ongoing debates about the extent to which Southeast Asian states are truly developmental in nature (Rigg Citation2009) and evolving conceptions of the ‘developmental state’ and its contemporary relevance (Hayashi Citation2010; Stubbs Citation2009), which we are unable to engage with explicitly in this paper due to space constraints.
2. The Singapore government is a majority shareholder of DBS Bank.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Karen P. Y. Lai
Karen P. Y. Lai is an Assistant Professor of Geography at National University of Singapore. Her research interests include geographies of money and finance, markets, service sectors, global city networks and international financial centres. Her current project examines the global financial networks of investment banks in mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings. She is also on the Standing Committee of the Global Production Networks Centre at NUS, and editorial board member of Geography Compass.
Michael Samers
Michael Samers (BA Clark, MS. Wisconsin, D Phil. Oxford University) is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Kentucky, having previously held positions at the Universities of Liverpool and Nottingham. His research interests include international finance and alternative forms of economic activity, as well as the political-economic, urban and labor market dimensions of migration/immigration. He has served as Co-editor of Geoforum (2006–2012), and held a Fulbright research fellowship at CERAPS, Université de Lille II in 2013–2014. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles, book chapters and several books, including the first edition of Migration (Routledge, 2010, translated into Italian and Korean), and the 2nd edition with Michael Collyer (2017).