The Asian and global financial crises: consequences for East Asian regionalism

Abstract

This article provides a comparative study of the consequences of the Asian and global financial crises for East Asian regionalism. It explains how and why the effects of the two crises on regional institutions were divergent. The differences derived from the origins of the two upheavals, internal versus external to the region, and from the depth of their impact on the affected countries. These generated contrasting expectations of how regional institutions might respond, which led in turn to diverse perceptions on the need for institutional change. The Asian financial crisis underscored the need for new overlapping arrangements capable of better defending the region against future financial instability. The less severe crisis affecting East Asia in 2008, in contrast, has led to a more dispersed and nationally driven institutional response. The competing proposals have been driven more by a perceived shift in the global power distribution than by any renewed or reinforced sense of regional vulnerability or common identity.

Keywords:

• Asian financial crisis
• global financial crisis
• East Asian regionalism
• institutions

Notes

For contributions to the debate from a political economy perspective, see Noble and Ravenhill (2000); Pempel (1999), Haggard (2000), MacIntyre et al. (2008), and Carney (2009).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ralf Emmers

Ralf Emmers is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Multilateralism and Regionalism Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

John Ravenhill

John Ravenhill is Head of the School of Politics and International Relations, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Australia. Email: [email protected]