The Nexus of Economic Strategies and Intergroup Conflict in Asia

Abstract

Since independence, Asia has grown more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, with stunning changes in economic approaches and structures in most countries. The transitions included experimentation with several economic doctrines and many development strategies. In the 1950s and 1960s, structural transition away from agriculture was pursued through import-substitution industrialization (ISI); by the mid-1980s most Asian countries had embraced an export-oriented growth model, accompanied by market-based economic reforms, though often partly reversed or applied in ways to maintain state control. The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, which plunged most regional economies into deep recession, led to yet another shift in economic development strategies. And alternative development models, including the Chinese approach, have emerged. The specific strategies and policies to implement these doctrines were different in scale, timing, and resultant economic performances of Asian subregions and individual countries. Their impacts on conflict varied greatly as well. Some of key differences are presented in this chapter.