The Austrian Foundation for Development Research (Österreichische Forschungsstiftung für Entwicklungshilfe - OFSE) and the working group "Transformations in the World System - Comparative Studies of Development" of EADI propose proceeding the workshop that has to be devoted to the forthcoming 10-th anniversary of the financial-economic crisis in Asia.
On the 2-nd of July 1997, the East Asian 'miracle' had begun turning into 'debacle' starting from the Thai baht devaluation. In the next months, a contagion of financial quakes spread to the other newly industrialising countries (NICs) of East and Southeast Asia affecting, although to various degrees, all countries that made up a group of the so-called Asian industrial 'tigers'.
The crisis of 1997-98 that encompassed the most dynamic non-western region over the last thirty years was neither financial crisis as itself, nor ordinary crisis of over-production, nor structural crisis, although all these characteristics were applicable to it.
This crisis meant:
- that Asian 'tigers' fell into 'modernisation trap' following the former Soviet Union, Latin American countries, and Japan. Namely, they found themselves in a situation when their proper accomplishments and respective social-political institutions, which enabled acquiring these accomplishments in the past, became obstacles to a further development. In other words, they became victims of their own achievements;
- the objective historical limit to catching up industrial development in the conditions of global shifts towards a post-industrial, knowledge-based society;
- the general decline of compromise between modernity and traditionalism. Over three-four decades, this compromise enabled implementing the western values in non-estranging (non-alienating) forms, often under the slogans of 'the Asian values' promoting. However, this compromise appeared as hardly compatible with adequate responses to the challenges the NICs faced in the 1990s. In particular, an adherence to the principles of communalism, social paternalism, and prevalence of family, community or state over personality came into confrontation with insistent necessity to solve such a strategic task as a stimulation of creativity.
Today, it is time to sum up the main results of development in the region over ten years after the crisis. What has changed in the NICs since 1997? Have the developmental states, which were the leading, most important actors of catching up development, altered their functions and structures, correspondingly to the new imperatives? Could the proclaimed reforms, aimed at liberalisation of economies, particularly, in the most crisis-affected countries, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, succeed in clearing the market from constraints imposed by the activity of the developmental state in the past? Were the macroeconomic disproportions and imbalances, inevitable side effects of fast modernisation, alleviated in the course of post-crisis reforms? What has changed in the sphere of R&D and education? How can we assess the recently attained and future positions of East/Southeast Asia in the world system?
Meanwhile, there are some serious foundations to suppose that changes, seemingly destined to eliminate all causes and factors, which succeeded to the crisis, have been only superficial and not profoundly affecting the entire social-economic and political system in the region. The corporate and statist structures demonstrated a non-ordinary 'adaptability to reforms' - a capability to survive without real transformations. In essence, almost nothing was reformed, and all major problems that burst the East Asian economies in 1997 continue existing with some modifications of small importance. In particular, the Asian NICs could not essentially improve their scientific-technological capacities as a whole, several positive movements notwithstanding, and slipped to the model of economic growth without development, i.e. to the situation of visible well-being, from the point of view of quantitative indicators, but without progressive structural changes. Moreover, in some cases, the process of 'adaptation to reforms' has been accompanied by revival of various forms of traditionalism and anti-westernism that, as the Russian and CIS experience shows, may have serious negative consequences for the prospects of development.
All the above mentioned and other trends in the region will be considered at the workshop with prospect of publishing the papers presented and discussed. An emphasis on East/Southeast Asian issues does not exclude a scrutiny of tendencies taking place in other regions of emerging markets: Latin America, Eastern Europe, CIS, China, and India. On the contrary, any comparative analysis, focusing either on general trends or on concrete case studies, will be welcome as it may add an extra dimension to discussions and may enable to find hidden implications of different experience for East Asia.
The workshop will be held in Vienna on 19-21 September 2007 being hosted by the OFSE (A-1090, Wien, Berggasse, 7). The potential participants are requested to submit the abstracts of papers (up to 600 words) to conveners of the working group. Abstracts must contain and explain the subject of the paper, methodological approach of the author to chosen topic, and key issues that have to be considered. All personal data of the author (institute/university affiliation, position, postal and electronic address, etc.) should be included in the abstract's text (within the limit of 600 words), too. Deadline for the submission of abstracts is April 15. In the case of positive decision taken by conveners until April 25, the full text (up to 10,000 words) must be sent in electronic form to the same persons by the 1-st of July. The authors will be informed about acceptance of their texts until July 15. The texts can be written in English or French.
Participation and attendance of young scholars, MA and PhD students is welcome.
At the current stage of work, we will be glad to consider all proposals, concerning content, format, and organisation as well, that can help us to proceed with the workshop.