South East Asia in the World-Economy

By Chris Dixon

Book Overview

South East Asia has for many centuries occupied a pivotal position in the wider Asian economy, linking China and the Far East with India and the Middle East, and since the early 1500s the region has also played a major role in the world-economy. South East Asia in the World-economy is a textbook survey of the area's interaction with these wider regional and international structure. Professor Chris Dixon demonstrates how this region's role has undergone frequent and profound chance as a result of the successive emergency and dominance of mercantile, industrial and finance capital. He shows how the region has developed as a supplier of luxury product, such as spices; as a producer of bulk primary products; and how, since the mid 1960s, it has become a major recipient of investment and a favoured location for European and American markets. The author examines how these phases in the evolution of the international economy have been reflected in the relations of evolution of the production and in the spatial pattern of economic activity. He also discusses how the progressive integration of South East Asia in the world-economy has established the dominance of a small number of core areas and produced a pattern of uneven development throughout the region. In a concluding chapter, Chris Dixon explores the prospects for South East Asia in the 1990s in the light of the restructuring of the world-economy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0091Z4LHS
• ISBN13: 9780521312370
• Release Date: July 1991
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

vast growth by some nations

The history of south east Asia up to 1990-1 is given by Dixon. Much of the text looks at the events under European colonialism, where only Thailand was able to stay independent. Throughout most of the recent history, the economic development was largely agricultural and mining. What is distinctive are the events of the post war period, when Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were able to industrialise successfully. Indeed, the book show that Singapore was by 1990 a fully developed country, while Malaysia and Thailand achieved high literacies and eliminated much poverty. The book also shows that Indonesia and Philippines were much less successful, and were burdened by massive corruption and remained still largely rural, quasi-feudal societies.