TAMING THE TIGERS - THE IMF AND THE ASIAN CRISIS

This article is a contribution to the debate over Asia's economic cris is. In particular it explores the actions and motives of one of the ke y actors in the Asian crash-the International Monetary Fund. The artic le demonstrates that the IMF does not have a monopoly of social or eco nomic wisdom (far from it). If the Fund's neoliberal crusaders can be reined in, and alternatives explored, the crisis can offer Asia the ch ance to forge democratic and sustainable alternatives to the ruinous d evelopment path of recent years. If not, then ordinary Asians could co me to look back on the 1970s and 1980s as a golden era. That would ind eed be a tragic testament to the failings of the 'rescue packages' of 1997.