Southeast Asia is the world's most diverse region comprised of a large geographical area stretching from India to China. The region has always played an important role in the political and economic affairs of the globe because of its rich natural resources, strategic location, and more recently because of its rapid economic growth. Currently, the region is in a severe crisis which has toppled the 32-year dictatorship of Suharto in Indonesia, stopped the trading of the Malaysian currency, and provoked some of the most profound challenges to "Western globalization".

In the midst of these changes a number of political-economic questions arise. Why did Southeast Asia grow so rapidly and then collapse even more quickly? Did some groups benefit more than others from the rapid growth? Are these same groups feeling the crisis most severely? Was Southeast Asia becoming more democratic as parts of it grew richer? Is the future likely to bring a return of rapid economic growth?

This course is designed to allow students to think critically about these kinds of questions. In order to allow this thinking, we need to have some factual knowledge of the region. This includes a basic understanding of the geography, the history of colonialism, the transitions to independence, and the ethnic compositions of the region. The first several sessions of the course will be devoted to reading an introductory history of the region. Much of the remainder of the course will focus on a more in-depth analysis of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. By comparing these countries we will see how the past matters in determining the kinds of choices about the future that confront states, businesses and citizens.

In addition to factual knowledge of the region, the other necessary component for critical thinking is a set of theories with which to sort and organize the facts. These politico-economic theories are the lenses which citizens, statespeople, and business people use to guide their actions in the world. We will examine three theories near the beginning of the course which we will then apply to our three countries. The first theory is liberalism which sees a world of individuals who desire maximal freedom and who can satisfy this freedom most easily through market exchange. The second theory is Marxism which sees a world divided between workers and owners of capital and the dynamism and conflicts that this division creates. The third is statism which sees the need for an effective bureaucracy to oversee the developmental process and to coordinate divergent interests within the country.

As an introduction, this course cannot answer in detail all of the questions that students may have about the political economy of the region or particular states. In order to ensure that students are learning the factual and theoretical material of the course, there will be a midterm exam and a final exam. In order to encourage students to investigate their own questions, students will also be required to write a mid-length paper of 7-10 pages. This paper can be on a topic of the student's choosing but it must incorporate the theoretical concepts we have discussed in class. All students will be required to meet with the instructor by the fourth week of the course to discuss their topic.

While much of the class time will be spent in lecture we will reserve periods for discussion, class activities, or videos. In case it needs saying, students will be expected to finish the reading before it is discussed in class. I have kept the reading load relatively light so that you can complete all of it.

Materials/Resources

Required books:

Garry Rodan, Kevin Hewison, and Richard Robison (Eds.) The Political Economy of South-East Asia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Milton Osborne. Southeast Asia: An Introductory History. St. Leonards (NSW): Allen & Unwin, 1997.

Gabriel Kolko. Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Available from Paradigm Course Resources in the Dinkydome. All required readings which are not in the above books are in the reading packet.

Southeast Asia is currently one of the most dynamic regions in the world and students are strongly encouraged to read and clip and news articles that are relevant for the course and their papers. A number of websites are especially helpful in this regard: For General SE Asia see Far Eastern Economic Review (www.feer.com); for Indonesia, see Kompas (www.kompas.com); for Thailand, The Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com), for the Philippines, the Manila Times (www.manilatimes.net), The Philippine Daily Inquirer (www.inquirer.net), and Business World (www.bworld.com.ph); for Vietnam start with www.vncentral.com and sunsite.nus.sg/SEAlinks/vietnam-info.html. On the crisis see the following two sites: www.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/asia/AsiaHomepage.html and www.people.virginia.edu/~teb7c/asian_economic_crisis_home.

For each topic, there is a list of recommended readings. I included the readings for those that are interested in writing on a particular week. I have copies of most of these readings; see me if you are interested in any of them.

Grading:

20% Midterm

40% Final

30% Writing assignment/s

10% Class Participation

 Topic 1: Background on Southeast Asia and Introduction to some of the Main Debates. (6 sessions)

Southeast Asia has long been a part of the global political economy and the past interaction with colonial powers and the wars for independence have shaped the states in the region in indelible ways. The two articles from the Economist demonstrate bring students up to date on some of the more recent occurrences and public debates within the region. The introductory article by Robison et al gives a good overview of how political economists approach the region. The terms and substance of the debates will become more familiar to you over the next several weeks. The Osborne book gives an excellent historical introduction to the region which gives a crucial foundation for the remainder of the quarter.

March 29: "Asian Values Revisited." The Economist. July 25, 1998. pp. 23-25. "East Asian Economies." A Survey from The Economist. March 7, 1998. pp. 1-15.

March 31: Richard Robison, Garry Rodan and Kevin Hewison. "Introduction." in The Political Economy of South-East Asia, pp. 1-28.

April 2: Milton Osborne. Southeast Asia: An Introductory History, 7th Edition. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin. 1997. Chapters 5-6. (pp. 61- 97).

April 5: Osborne. Chapters 7-9. (pp. 98-153)

April 7: Osborne. Chapters 10-11 (pp. 154-181).

April 9: Osborne. Chapter 12 (pp. 182-200).

Higgot, Richard et al. "Theories of Development and Underdevelopment: Implications for the Study of Southeast Asia." in Higgot, Richard and Richard Robison (Eds.) Southeast Asia: Essays in the Political Economy of Structural Change. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985: pp. 16-62.

Ruth McVey. "The Materialization of the Southeast Asian Entrepreneur." in Southeast Asian Capitalists, Ruth McVey (Ed). Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program at Cornell, 1992. pp. 7-33.

Topic 2: How can we analyze and compare the Main Theories of Political Economy? (6 sessions)

In order to make sense of the events which occur in the region it is necessary to have a theory about how the world works. The globally predominate theory is currently liberalism and students are likely to have an implicit understanding of this theory. It is important to make our understanding more explicit so that we can use the theory as an analytical tool and so that we see why some people do not accept liberalism. Historically, the main contender with liberalism has been Marxism. Vietnam engaged in long revolution based on the political program of socialism. Although the fall of the Soviet Union has caused a retreat of Marxism, it continues to influence the ways that many people think and act around the world. Some people believe that our final theory of statism is not a theory because it does not provide a comprehensive theory of how people work together and struggle over how things are produced and distributed within a political economy. Nevertheless, it is important to analyze statism because it has become a primary focus of academic and public discussion.

Market-Based Theories:

April 12: "Liberalism Defined". The Economist. December 21, 1996, pp. 17-19

Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1982. Chapters 1 "The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom" and Chapter 2, "The Role of Government in a Free Society." pp. 7-36

April 14: Iyanatul Islam. "Between the State and the Market: the Case of Eclectic Neoclassical Political Economy" in Andrew MacIntyre (Ed.) Business and Government in Industrializing Asia. St. Leonards (Australia): Allen and Unwin, 1994: pp. 91-112.

James Caparoso and David Levine. Theories of Political Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Chapter 4: "Neoclassical Political Economy" pp. 79-99.

Charles Lindblom. Politics and Markets: The World's Political-Economic Systems. New York: Basic Books, 1977. Chapter 3: "Exchange and Markets." pp. 33-51

Class-Based Theories:

April 16: Karl Marx. "Wage Labor and Capital" pp. 203-217 in Robert Tucker (Ed.) The Marx-Engels Reader. Sections from Etzioni and Etzioni, "Historical Materialism Summarized" and "The Class Struggle". pp. 40-49. Ernest Mandel. An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1979. pp. 7-13, 31-41.

April 19: Frederic Deyo. "Labour and Industrial Restructuring in South-East Asia." in Political Economy in South-East Asia. pp. 205-224.

Anthony Giddens. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1971. Chapters 1-4, 13.

James Caparoso and David Levine. Theories of Political Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Chap. 3: "Marxian Political Economy" pp. 55-78.

Gary Hawes and Hong Liu. "Explaining the Dynamics of the Southeast Asian Political Economy: State, Society and the Search for Economic Growth." World Politics. Vol. 45: No. 4 (1993): pp. 629-660.

April 21: Max Weber. "Bureaucracy." in Gerth and Mills (Eds) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. pp. 196-204, 214-235. and Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1978: pp. 1028-1031.

April 23: Robert Wade. "The Visible Hand: The State and East Asia's Economic Growth." Current History. December 1993. pp. 431-440. Meredith Woo-Cumings. "The 'New Authoritarianism' in East Asia." Current History, December 1994, pp. 413-416.

Trevor Mathews and John Ravenhill. "Strategic Trade Policy: the Northeast Asian Experience" in Andrew MacIntyre (Ed.) Business and Government in Industrializing Asia. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1994: pp. 29-90.

Choi, Alex H. "Statism and Asian Political Economy: Is There a New Paradigm." Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 30, No. 3 (1998), pp. 50-60.

Peter Evans "Predatory, Developmental, and Other Apparatuses: A Comparative Political Economy Perspective on the Third World State." Sociological Forum, Vol. 4, No. 4. (1989): pp. 561-587

James Caparoso and David Levine. Theories of Political Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Chap. 8: "State Centered Approaches to Political Economy" pp. 181-196

Evans, Peter. "State Structures, Government-Business Relations and Economic Transformation." in Maxfield and Schneider. Business and the State in Developing Countries. Ithaca: Cornell, 1997: pp. 63-87.)

Topic 4: How Does Late Development Differ from Early Industrialization? (2 sessions)

As a region of the world which is "developing" or "underdeveloped" there are several theories about why Southeast Asia is in this condition and what it can do to extricate itself. The two main theories are modernization and dependency. While these theories are not the same as liberalism and Marxism respectively, they are importantly related to them. Modernization argues that all states undergo similar processes of social differentiation and economic growth and this means that the experience of developing countries will be very similar to that of the US and Western Europe. Dependency theory disagrees because the countries to develop first have important advantages over those that come later. This makes the process of development as long as the national economy is integrated with the global economy.

April 26: W. W. Rostow. "The Takeoff into Self-Sustained Growth." in Etzioni and Etzioni (Eds.) Social Change: Sources, Patterns, and Consequences. New York: Basic Books, 1964: pp. 275-290. Vicky Randall and Robin Theobald. Political Change and Underdevelopment. Chap. 1 "Towards a Politics of Modernization and Development" pp. 12-33.

Randall and Theobald. Chap. 3: "The Emergence of a Politics of Order" pp. 67-98.

Samuel P. Huntington. "The Change to Change: Modernization, Development, and Politics." Comparative Politics. Vlm 3 (1971): pp. 282-322.

Samuel P. Huntington. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968: Especially Chapters 1 and 4.

W. W. Rostow.. The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1962.

Lucian W. Pye. "The Politics of Southeast Asia." in Gabriel Almond and James Coleman (Eds.) The Politics of Developing Areas. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1960: pp. 65-152.

April 28: Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America. "Preface to the English Edition." and "Conclusions." pp. vii-xxv and pp. 172-176. Andre Gunder Frank. "The Development of Underdevelopment" pp. 99-108 in Charles Wilber. The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment. 3rd Edition. New York: Random House.

Chap. 4: "Dependency Theory and the Study of Politics." pp. 99-136. in Vicky Randall and Robin Theobald. Political Change and Underdevelopment. Durham: Duke University Press, 1985.

Topic 4: Indonesia (4 sessions)

For three decades, from 1965 until 1997, Indonesia was ruled by the Suharto family and his close associates. During this time Indonesia also experienced rapid rates of economic growth. Despite harsh internal repression, Indonesia became a "showcase state" for international development planners and economists. Beginning in 1997, the miracle began to unravel. The common wisdom now is that Indonesia was plagued by "crony capitalism" that caused the collapse of the economy and which meant that even the period of growth of the economy was illusory. We will see that although Indonesia did grow before the crisis, the fruits were unevenly distributed and political institutions which might have led to a more equitable society were repeatedly snuffed. Some now believe that the lack of political institutions and the isolation of the technocratic state have now become the greatest obstacles to a return to economic prosperity.

April 30: As background read "Suharto's End Game" The Economist, July 26, 1997: pp. 1-18. (Notice that this is written one month before the crisis started.) For an idea of the parameters of current debates read following selections from Ian Chalmers and Vedi R. Hadiz (Eds.) The Politics of Economic Development in Indonesia: Contending Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 1997: Mulya Lubis (1989) "Why I Love This Country: Reminiscing about Independence." pp. 192-194; Soedjatmoko (1992) " A Political Format For Sustainable Development." pp. 194-197; Ginandjar Kartasasmita (1985) "To Build a National Economic Resilience." pp. 169-172; Radius Prawiro (1989) "Back to the Wisdom of the Market." pp. 147-152.

May 3: Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. "Old State, New Society: Indonesia's New Order in Comparative Historical Perspective." Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. XLII, No. 3 (May 1983): pp. 477-495.

May 5: Richard Robison. "Politics and Markets in Indonesia's Post-oil Era." in Political Economy of South-East Asia." pp. 29-63

May 7: Diane L. Wolf. "Javanese Factory Daughters: Gender, the State, and Late Industrialism." in Fantasizing the Feminine in Indonesia. Laurie J. Sears (Ed). Durham: Duke University Press, 1996, pp. 140-162.

Adam Schwarz. A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.

Crouch, Harold. "Patrimonialism and Military Rule in Indonesia." World Politics, Vol. 21, No. 4 (July, 1979): pp. 571-587.

MacIntyre, Andrew. "Power, Prosperity and Patrimonialism: Business and Government in Indonesia," in McIntyre, Andrew (Ed.) Business and Government in Industrializing Asia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994, pp. 244-267.

MacIntyre, Andrew. "The Politics of Finance in Indonesia: Command, Confusion, and Competition." in Stephen Haggard, Chung H. Lee, and Sylvia Maxfield (Eds.) The Politics of Finance in Developing Countries. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993: pp. 123-164.

Richard Tanter. "Oil, IGGI, and US Hegemony: The Global Pre-Conditions for Indonesian Rentier-Militarization." In Arief Budiman (Ed.) State and Civil Society in Indonesia. Monash Papers on SE Asia No. 22, 1990: pp. 51-98.

Berger, Mark T. "Post-Cold War Indonesia and the Revenge of History: The Colonial Legacy, Nationalist Visions and Global Capitalism." in Berger, Mark T. and Douglas A. Borer (Eds). The Rise of East Asia: Critical Visions of the Pacific Century. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 169-192.

Winters, Jeffrey. Power in Motion: Capital Mobility and the Indonesian State. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.

Robison, Richard. Indonesia: The Rise of Capital. Winchester (MA): Unwin Hyman, 1986.

Franklin B. Weinstein. Indonesian Foreign Policy and the Dilema of Dependence: From Sukarno to Soeharto. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976. Chap. 8: "Perceptions, Politics, and Foreign Policy." pp. 288-353.

Ricklefs, M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300, Second Edition, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.

Topic 5: The Philippines (4 sessions)

In the immediate post-war period no country looked better situated for rapid economic growth in SE Asia than the Philippines. It had strong exports and access to US markets. For the next several decades the Philippines did grow, but not as fast as many of its neighbors. This prompted many criticisms of the Philippines as the "sick man of Asia". But the Philippines was not hit by the crisis of 1997 nearly as severely as Indonesia and this is causing people to re-think these criticisms. We will see that although the Philippines has more democratic institutions than Indonesia, these institutions function in ways which maintain the power of a few families. Some argue that this will make it difficult for the Philippines to move to more advanced stages of capitalism.

May 10: Anderson, Benedict. "Cacique Democracy in the Philippines: Origins and Dreams." New Left Review. 169 (May/June 1988): pp. 3-33. As background, "Back on the Road." The Economist, May 11, 1996: pp. 1-18.

May 12: Jane Hutchison. "Pressure on Policy in the Philippines." in Political Economy in South-East Asia.. pp. 64-92

May 14: Emmanuel S. de Dios. "Philippine Economic Growth: Can It Last." in David G. Timberman (Ed.) The Philippines: New Directions in Domestic Policy and Foreign Relations. New York: Asia Society, 1998: pp. 49-84.

May 17: John T. Sidel. "The Underside of Progress: Land, Labor, and Violence in Two Philippine Growth Zones, 1985-1995." Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1998), pp. 3-12.

Paul Hutchcroft. "Booty Capitalism: Business-Government Relations in the Philippines." In Andrew MacIntyre (Ed.). Business and Government in Industrializing Asia. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1994: pp. 216-243.

Thompson, Mark R. "Off the Endangered List: Philippine Democratization in Comparative Perspective." Comparative Politics, Vlm 28, No. 2 (Jan. 1996): pp. 179-205.

Paul Hutchcroft. Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998. Esp. chapters 1, 2, (3), 10.

Hawes, Gary. "Marcos, His Cronies, and the Philippines' Failure to Develop." in McVey, Ruth (Ed.). Southeast Asian Capitalists. Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program, 1992, pp. 145-160.

Michael Pinches. "The Philippines' New Rich: Capitalist Transformation Amidst Economic Gloom." in Richard Robison and David S.G. Goodman (Eds.) The New Rich in Asia: Mobile Phones, McDonald's, and Middle-Class Revolution. New York: Routledge, 1996, pp. 105-136.

Stanley Karnow. In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Especially Chap. 1 "All in the Family" pp. 3-25: Chap. 12: Dependent Independence, pp. 322-355.

Steinberg, David Joel. The Philippines: A Singular and a Plural Place, Third Edition. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.

Wurfel, David. Filipino Politics: Development and Decay. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1988.

Topic 6: Vietnam (4 sessions)

It is impossible to discuss the political economy of Vietnam without recognizing the foundational importance of its protracted struggle for independence first against France and then against the United States. The war left the communist party with the task of administering the peace which it had finally won. Kolko's book lays out the challenges that the party faced and the many ways in which it did not meet those challenges. Recently, Vietnam has become more integrated into the global capitalist economy and the political-economic groupings of the region like ASEAN. While the crisis has affected Vietnam, it's relative distance from global flows of capital saved it from a fate like Indonesia.

May 19: Melanie Beresford. "Vietnam: The Transition From Central Planning." pp. 179-205. in Political Economy in South-East Asia.. As background, "The Road to Capitalism: A Survey of Vietnam" The Economist. July 8, 1995, pp. 1-18.

May 21: Gabriel Kolko. Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace. New York: Routledge, 1997. Introduction, Chap. 1 -2, pp. 1-64.

May 24: Kolko, Chaps. 3-4, pp. 65-100

May 26: Kolko, Chaps. 5-6 and Conclusion, pp. 101-160.

Greenfield, Gerard. "Fragmented Visions of Asia's Next Tiger: Vietnam in the Pacific Century." in Berger, Mark T. and Douglas A. Borer (Eds). The Rise of East Asia: Critical Visions of the Pacific Century. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 124-147.

de Vylder, S. and Fforde, A. From Plan to Market. Boulder: Westview, 1995.

Fforde, Adam. "The Political Economic of Reform in Vietnam - Some Reflections." in Forje Ljunggren (Ed.) The Challenge of Reform in Indochina. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993: pp. 293-326.

Marr, David G. and White, Christine P. (Eds.) Postwar Vietnam: Dilemas in Socialist Development. Ithaca: Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program, 1988.

Spoor, Max. "Finance in a Socialist Transition: the Case of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1955-64)." Journal of Contemporary Asia. Vol. 17, No. 3 (1987): pp. 339-365.

Topic 7: Globalization and The Crisis (3 sessions)

We now turn to look more closely at how the processes of globalization impinge on the political economies of different states. There are important differences in the susceptibility of different countries to the risks and opportunities of globalization. It is now acknowledged that rapid movements of financial capital contributed to the crisis and Winters' article explains the basic dynamics. The readings for the final two days of the course demonstrate the contours of the current debates about the strength/fragility of the emerging global order and the range of options that are open to people in the countries hit by the crisis.

May 28: Jeffrey Winters. "The Financial Crisis in Southeast Asia." Current History. Paul Krugman. "The Seven Habits of Highly Defective Investors" from WWW.

June 2: Walden Bello. "East Asia: On the Eve of the Great Transformation." ." Review of International Political Economy. Vol. 5. No. 3 (Autumn, 1998): pp. 424-444. Richard Haas and Robert Litan. "Globalization and It's Discontents." Foreign Affairs, May/June 1998, pp. 2-6. Jagdish Bhagwati. "The Capital Myth." Foreign Affairs, May/June 1998, pp. 7-12.

June 4: "Two Views on Asia" Robert Wade and Frank Veneroso Vs. Fred Bergsten. The Economist. November 7, 1998. Donald Emmerson. "Americanizing Asia." Foreign Affairs, May/June 1998: pp. 46-56.

Stephen Haggard and Andrew MacIntyre. "The Political Economy of the Asian Economic Crisis." Review of International Political Economy. Vol. 5. No. 3 (Autumn, 1998): pp. 381-392

Chris Freeman. "The East Asian Crisis, Technical Change and the World Economy." Review of International Political Economy. Vol. 5. No. 3 (Autumn, 1998): pp. 393-409.

Steven Radelet and Jeffrey Sachs. "Asia's Reemergence." Foreign Affairs. November/December 1997: pp. 44-59.

Benedict Anderson. "Sauve Qui Peut." in The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World. New York: Verso, 1998: pp. 299-317.

Ron Bevacqua. "Wither the Japanese Model? The Asian Economic Crisis and the Continuation of Cold War Politics in the Pacific Rim." Review of International Political Economy. Vol. 5. No. 3 (Autumn, 1998): pp. 410-423.

William Greider. One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism. New York: Touchstone. 1998. Chap. 5: "Wawasan 2020" pp. 81-102 and Chap. 17: "Buruh Sejahtera" pp. 388-415.

John Tomlinson. Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1991. Chap. 4, "The Culture of Capitalism" pp. 102-139 and pp. 173-179.

Peter Evans. "The Eclipse of the State?: Reflections on Stateness in an Era of Globalization." World Politics. Vol. 50. (October, 1997): pp. 62-87.

News items still to add:

Mahatir's freezing of the capital account.

Malaysian officials calling Soros Hitler and a Jew.

Krugman - money markets may be racist.

Sachs on IMF and crisis.

For studies which provide cautions against the applicability of the East Asian Experience to SE Asia:

Bruce Cummings, "The Origins and Development of the Northeast Asian Political Economy: Industrial Secotrs, Product Cycles,a nd Political Consequences,"

Stephan Haggard and Tun-Jen Chang, "State and Foreign Capital in the East Asian NICs,"

Both in The Political Economy of New Asian Industrialism, ed. Frederic C. Deyo (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1987)