Nesadurai, Helen Sharmini (2001) The political economy of the ASEAN Free Trade Area : the dynamics of globalisation, developmental regionalism and domestic politics. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study examines how the interaction between globalisation and domestic politics shaped
the evolution of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) between 1991 and 2000. Previous
studies have argued that AFTA, a project of open regionalism, was adopted to attract foreign
direct (FDI) investment to the region. Accurate to a degree, this dissertation argues that the
concern with FDI is only part of the AFTA story, albeit an important part. The FDI
explanation is unable to explain why market access and national treatment privileges were
offered to national (domestic) investors from the ASEAN countries at least ten years ahead of
foreign (non-ASEAN) investors in AFTA's investment liberalisation programme.
The dissertation explains this departure from open regionalism, which has yet to be accounted
for in the literature, by advancing the notion of 'developmental' regionalism. Underwritten by
strategic trade theory rather than neoclassical economics, developmental regionalism
emphasises the nurturing of domestic capital by using the expanded regional market and
temporary protection or privileges for domestic capital as the means to build up domestic
firms capable of meeting global market competition. Unlike existing models of the
globalisation-regionalism relationship, which do not integrate domestic politics or do so in a
limited way, the model of developmental regionalism considers domestic capital to be a key
analytical variable, and takes seriously its location within domestic politics and society.
Using documentary research and elite interviews, and guided by these theoretical insights, the
study shows that AFTA encompasses the features of both open and developmental regionalism
due to the political significance of both foreign and domestic capital in the ASEAN
economies. While both forms of regionalism were driven by the imperative of growth,
distributive concerns were weaved into the concern with growth in developmental
regionalism, as governments sought to nurture those segments of domestic capital that were
important in sustaining elite rule.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions J Political Science > JQ Political institutions (Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Area, etc.)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Customs unions, ASEAN Free Trade Area -- History -- 20th century, Regionalism -- Southeast Asia
Official Date:	August 2001
Dates:	Date Event August 2001 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Higgott, Richard A.
Sponsors:	Great Britain. Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Extent:	ix, 306 leaves
Language:	eng

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