GROWTH MIRACLE AND ITS UNRAVELING IN EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA - UNREGULATED COMPETITIVENESS AND DENOUEMENT OF MANIPULATION BY INTERNATIONALFINANCIAL COMMUNITY

A basic change in the international political climate as well as in th e degree of integration of international financial markets must be add uced to explain the timing of the economic crisis affecting several co untries of east and south-east Asia and the contagion that was allowed to affect this region as a whole. After examining the nature of the i ntegration process, the author discusses some of the domestic factors and their interface with the external factors. The final section of th e paper is concerned with whether the currency crises and the associat ed economic crises affecting this group of countries can be regarded a s self-fulfilling prophecies on the part of the international communit y or whether they were entirely predictable results of unsound macro-e conomic fundamentals, with the focus of the discussion being on whethe r all the 'fundamentals' are equally important in this regard and what part financial liberalisation and capital account mobility have playe d in bringing about the present situation.