The East Asian Economic Crisis: The Hazards of Unchecked Globalization

Abstract

The Research paper aims at analysing the post-Second World War developments in East Asia which contributed to the rise of Japan as an economic and industrial power followed by the emergence of 'Asian Tigers' and other NICS in the region which until recently were considered as economic model for the rest of the developing countries of the world.The paper analyses the effects of the two major wars, the Korean war and the Vietnam war fought in the same region by the two superpowers through their proxies. The U.S involvement spread over a period of a quarter of a century transformed the whole region in terms of its security and economic development. The post-Vietnam Japanese engagement in the region had its own impact. The paper also analyses the consequences of Japanese involvement in the region after the U.S. withdrawal from the area.It also attempts to examine the emergence of global market forces in the early 1990s which opened the flood gates for the short term foreign finance capital with most destabilizing consequences leading to economic crash in the most of the countries of the region.