Neoliberalism's Promise of Freedom

Under the guise of neoliberalism, significant changes swept through Asia and around the globe following the end of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. After a series of currency devaluations spread across Southeast Asian and East Asian countries, resulting in stock market declines in the United States, Europe, and Russia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and other entities intervened to stabilize the economies and governments most affected. The reforms imposed laid the groundwork for unprecedented economic and social transformation throughout the region and the re-emergence of Asia as an important player in the global economy.

In East Asia, the capitalization of global value chains through high-tech industries has fuelled economic growth in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In Southeast Asia, Singapore's urban environment is dotted with constant construction as the country rises as a leading business and economic centre of multi-national companies (MNCS). In cities across the Philippines, mixed-use buildings, international call centres, and other labour outsourcing offices compete and contend with informal settlements and suburban developments alike. Likewise, in Vietnam, roads, factories, industrial parks, and Export Processing Zones (EPZS) are transforming rural land in order to support growing commercialization, while Special Economic Zones (SEZS) are emerging from the Golden Triangle frontier lands of Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar to bolster trade and investment opportunities.