Challenging triumphalism and convergence: the limits of global liberalization in Asia and Latin America

The economic crises in 1997-9 in Asia, Brazil and elsewhere represent colle ctively the first post-Cold War 'crisis of globalization', and a significan t set-back for the process of international economic liberalization. Contra ry to some arguments, the crises do not represent the final ideological tri umph of liberalism in a post-Cold War era. Rather they must be seen as a fu rther spur to rethinking significant aspects of the neoliberal project. A c omparative analysis of Asia and Latin America in this context demonstrates that while trade liberalization and a broad neoliberal economic strategy ar e unlikely to be abandoned, there is strong evidence that the tide of capit al account liberalization has turned, and that emerging 'sites of resistanc e' are becoming salient factors in the political equation in the relationsh ips of both regions to the wider global economy. Asian and Latin American r esponses to the crisis of globalization refute notions of convergence, on w hich many recent conceptions of the global political economy have rested, a nd point to the emergence of a genuine contestation of policy ideas that wi ll have significant implications for the future management of the global ec onomic order.