Political Business in East Asia (Politics in Asia Series)

The relationship between government and business has become a central issue in East Asia since the financial crisis of 1997. As the Asian economies try to advance the reform process, recent scandals involving corruption and cronyism have demonstrated the ongoing significance of the issue. This edited book features a range of distinguished international specialists and explores the interaction between politics and business across the region. Detailed case-studies focus on Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. This is the first comprehensive introduction to government-business relations in the region and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the problems faced by the Asian economies. Booknews Gomez (economics and administration, U. of Malaya, Malaysia) presents 10 papers that trace the interrelations between politics and business in order to study their influence on enterprise development, corruption, and the consolidation of democracy in East Asia. The papers collectively argue that one factor hindering the consolidation of democracy in East Asia has been the manner of funding of political parties, which is heavily influenced by ties between politicians and businessmen. Such ties, in their view, also hinder structural reforms and the development of more transparent and accountable forms of government. Countries studied in separate contributions include Taiwan, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan. Distributed by Taylor & Francis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of tables......Page 10 List of figures......Page 11 Notes on contributors......Page 12 Preface......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction: political business in East Asia......Page 18 Development and corruption: the East Asian paradox......Page 51 Political business alliances: the role of the state and foreign and domestic capital in economic development......Page 79 Political business in Malaysia: party factionalism, corporate development, and economic crisis......Page 99 KMT, Inc.: liberalization, democratization, and the future of politics in business......Page 132 State predation and rapid growth: politicization of business in China......Page 172 The political business of development in South Korea......Page 199 Politics, business, and democratization in Indonesia......Page 233 Democratization and economic crisis in Thailand: political business and the changing dynamic of the Thai state......Page 267 State, politics, and business in Singapore......Page 318 Politics, business, and the inescapable web of structural corruption in Japan......Page 341 Index......Page 356 This book is the first comprehensive introduction to government-business relations in the East Asian region, featuring a range of distinguished scholars, with detailed case-studies focussing on Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand East Asia presents scholars of political economy with a number of puzzles and paradoxes.