DEPENDENCY IN THE MODERN GLOBAL ECONOMY - AUSTRALIA AND THE CHANGING FACE OF ASIAN FINANCE

Theories which attempt to explain the structural features of spatial a nd temporal changes in the global system have generally underestimated the recent impacts of the international financial system. Japan and A ustralia are investigated because they illustrate opposite ends of the spectrum of experiences of these impacts. Beyond 1985 Japan became th e world's major creditor nation, but in 1992 was facing a severe crisi s in its domestic capital markets. Australia embraced the policy route of deregulating and opening its capital markets, only to be left with a massive external debt and a strong dependence of external capital. Japan became Australia's major supplier of capital, but the sectors an d the locations into which this capital was directed created for Austr alia an extremely fragile dependence.