The East Asian Crisis -- A Political Economy Explanation

Contrary to most analyses of the crisis which focus mainly on economic and financial issues, this paper attempts to provide a political economy explanation of the crisis. It locates the root cause of the crisis in the failure of these societies to successfully democratize their polity. It also argues that the sustainability of their economic recovery and the re-kindling of another miracle crucially depends on the consolidation of the democratic process that has been unleashed by the crisis.