Exploring the Asian Economic Miracle: Politics, Economics, Society, Culture, and History — A Review Article

1994 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terutomo Ozawa

Structural upgrading and industrial dynamismin Pacific Asia—initially Japan, then the Asian NIEs (Newly Industrializing Economies: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) following closely behind, and most recently, ASEAN 4 (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines)—have been unprecedentedly phenomenal. This regional supergrowth in industrial activities has become the center of attention, but the evolving changes in the political systems and societal structures of the Pacific Asian nations have been, no doubt, equally important, although rather subtle and not so dramatic in appearance.

1991 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 818-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard F. Doner

The pacific rim's record of impressive economic growth over the past twenty years is now well known. While most obvious in Japan, this expansion has been striking in the East Asian Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs): Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. But it has also occurred to varying degrees in four of the original members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. In addition to increases in overall output, each of these four economies has achieved a considerable degree of restructuring in favor of manufacturing and away from commodity production since the 1970s (e.g., Lee and Naya 1988:S134).


Author(s):  
Gerald Pratley

PRODUCTION ACTIVITY It was not so many years ago it seems when speaking of motion pictures from Asia meant Japanese films as represented by Akira Kurosawa and films from India made by Satyajit Ray. But suddenly time passes and now we are impressed and immersed in the flow of films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, with Japan a less significant player, and India and Pakistan more prolific than ever in making entertainment for the mass audience. No one has given it a name or described it as "New Wave," it is simply Asian Cinema -- the most exciting development in filmmaking taking place in the world today. In China everything is falling apart yet it manages to hold together, nothing works yet it keeps on going, nothing is ever finished or properly maintained, and yes, here time does wait for every man. But as far...


Author(s):  
Gordon Redding

What came to be known as the Asian miracle took place in a number of quite varied contexts in countries outside the major states Japan and China, and the way in which these smaller economies have built their development trajectories in the years after 1960 has been a matter of serious attention among policymakers worldwide. Japan and China are given specific attention elsewhere in this volume and so this article considers the rest of Pacific Asia. It aims to outline the systems of business which have come to characterize the following clusters of countries: first, South Korea which stands on its own as a distinct case; second, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore which are essentially Chinese in their ethnic make-up, their current political structures, and their business behaviour, but which nevertheless display great differences among themselves; third, the ASEAN group outside Singapore, again containing variety but with certain key common denominators.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 217-240
Author(s):  
Carl Boggs

This article explores the long trajectory of United States imperial strategy in the Pacific, spanning the first conquest of Hawaii in the 1890s through the naval buildup, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the protracted war of annihilation against Japan that followed, American establishment of its postwar hegemony over Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other parts of Asia, to the present-day “Asian Pivot” (including the Trans-Pacific Partnership) linking 12 nations in trade relations with efforts to contain the Chinese economic juggernaut. I argue that this will become a centerpiece of global politics heading into the future.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Seth

‘Globalizing south, inward north’ shows that from the 1980s the two Koreas grew further apart, economically, politically, and culturally. Few states moved faster from poverty to ‘developed’ status than South Korea, none developed a more totalitarian, isolated society than North Korea. South Korea’s economy expanded impressively well into the 2000s, becoming a wealthy consumer society, while North Korea went through economic stagnation and decline. Both started with authoritarian political systems; however, the South evolved into an open, democratic society while the North remained authoritarian and closed. Most Koreans continued to see themselves as part of one nation united by common ethnicity and ancestry, and regarded the political division as unnatural and unacceptable. Is reunification possible?


Author(s):  
Mansor H. Ibrahim ◽  
Syed Aun R. Rizvi

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implication of trade on carbon emissions in a panel of eight highly trading Southeast and East Asian countries, namely, China, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis relies on the standard quadratic environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) extended to include energy consumption and international trade. A battery of panel unit root and co-integration tests is applied to establish the variables’ stochastic properties and their long-run relations. Then, the specified EKC is estimated using the panel dynamic ordinary least square (OLS) estimation technique. Findings – The panel co-integration statistics verifies the validity of the extended EKC for the countries under study. Estimation of the long-run EKC via the dynamic OLS estimation method reveals the environmentally degrading effects of trade in these countries, especially in ASEAN and plus South Korea and Hong Kong. Practical implications – These countries are heavily dependent on trade for their development processes, and as such, their impacts on CO2 emissions would be highly relevant for assessing their trade policies, along the line of the gain-from-trade hypothesis, the race-to-the-bottom hypothesis and the pollution-safe-haven hypothesis. Originality/value – The analysis adds to existing literature by focusing on the highly trading nations of Southeast and East Asian countries. The results suggest that reassessment of trade policies in these countries is much needed and it must go beyond the sole pursuit of economic development via trade.


2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angharad Fletcher

During the Second World War, approximately 3,500 Australian military nurses served in combat regions throughout the world. The vast majority were enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), but after the Japanese advance and the fall of Hong Kong (December 1941) and Singapore (February 1942), a significant number of these nurses spent three-and-a-half years as POWs in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines. To date, considerable research has been undertaken on POW experiences in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Japan, albeit primarily focused on the testimonies of men and civilian women. This body of research utilises various methodologies, from Yuki Tanaka and Kei Ushimura's efforts to reconcile Japanese war crimes with the corruption of the Bushido ethic and sexual violence in contemporary Japanese society, to Christina Twomey's work on the imprisonment and repatriation of Dutch, Dutch–Eurasian and Australian civilian women and children. In the past fifteen years, historians have become aware of the need to recognise the multiplicity of these experiences, rather than continuing to focus on individual community, camp or regional case studies. Nurses are by no means absent from the discussion, although the majority of notable works on this subject focus on Hong Kong or the Philippines and adopt a descriptive and somewhat anecdotal approach. At the same time, scant critical attention has been paid to the internment of nurses in Indonesia despite a wealth of material kept in the Australian War Memorial (AWM) and National Archives of Australia (NAA).


2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 614-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas O’Brien

Leaders have an important role in initiating and shaping the democratization process. Formal and informal structures within the political system constrain possible options requiring leaders to exercise agency to manage expectations and facilitate change. This article examines the actions of F.W. de Klerk (South Africa) and Roh Tae Woo (South Korea) in initiating processes that eventually led to the consolidation of democratic political systems. The aims of the article are: (1) to identify the array of opportunities and threats faced by the two leaders; and (2) to determine the effect of regime form in shaping these structural factors. Drawing on previous work on the role of leadership in democratization, the analysis focuses on four factors: authority, institutions, opposition and continuity. To assess decisions made in the distinct political contexts the article examines how the respective structural configuration (one-party and military) was managed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document