The Internationalisation of Capital and the Transformation of Statehood in Southeast Asia

Abstract

This chapter examines the transformation of social classes and state forms in Southeast Asia. It charts in particular the emergence of a fraction of the bourgeoisie with a strong international orientation, denoted partly in the forms of cross-border corporate mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Combined with broader shifts in the global political economy, this has generated pressures to transform Southeast Asian states, shifting them from a national-developmentalist orientation towards “regulatory statehood” with important transnationalised elements. This restructuring of the state enables its active role in facilitating the global expansion of capital through various regulations and negotiations. Accordingly, the political dominance of transnationalised capital is being organised in and through the internationalisation of the state.