'A first-rate book. It represents the cutting edge of research in political economy and groups together in a single volume some of the most original research to date on the politics of financial liberalization.' -- Harvey B. Feigenbaum, George Washington University.

Japan, South Korea, Mexico, France, and Spain once exercised significant control over the allocation of credit, and used that control to facilitate economic adjustment and industrial development. In the 1980s all that changed. Why and how these states dismantled their activist credit policies is the subject of Capital Ungoverned. The volume brings together five specialists in the economics and politics of these various states to assess the internal and global changes that prompted them to adopt financial liberalization.Comparison reveals the distinctive political and institutional logic that guided liberalization in each country--from the role of a newly dominant capitalist class in Korea to the replacement of state financing by private financing and self-financing in Japan, from the maneuvers of the banking establishment in Spain to attempts to attract foreign capital in Mexico. At the same time, these cases clarify the importance of international factors, in particular the shifts that occurred in U.S. policy as it sought to respond to the effects of uneven growth in the world economy.

This book provides a comprehensive critique of the prevailing view of ungoverned spaces and the threat they pose to human, national and international security.

Benjamin J. Cohen has been one of the most original and influential writers on international political economy. This book provides an overview of his contribution to the field, grouped around the central theme of global monetary governance. The book is divided into three sections: challenges to systemic governance - examines the challenge of governance of the international monetary system looking at such crucial issues as monetary reform, the growth of capital markets and financial globalization dealing with financial crisis – looks at efforts to deal effectively with financial crises, analyzing the relationships between governments and banks in the management of international debt problems and the case for capital controls. There are case studies of the Asian financial crisis and several other key instances of instability in world markets the new geography of money – analyzes the crisis of legitimacy created by a global system where governing authority is exercised now more by market forces than by sovereign states. It explores the geopolitical implications of the competition between the two most widely used currencies in the world today, the US dollar and the Euro and spells out the main implications for policy makers. The concluding chapters evaluate the merits and prospects for the two most widely discussed policy alternatives available to governments responsible for the world’s many less competitive currencies – dollarization or monetary union.

International financial relations have become increasingly important for the development of global and national economies. At present these relations are primarily governed by market forces, with little regulatory interference at the international level. In the light of numerous financial crises, this abstinence must be seriously questioned. Starting with an analysis of the regulatory problems at the international level, with only minimal powers entrusted to international organisations, this book develops various possibilities for reform. On the basis of an historical analysis, the book first adopts a comparative approach to national attempts to regulate international financial markets, then outlines the potential of relevant institutions and finally develops a policy perspective. It seeks to provide a framework for analysing options for the regulation of international financial markets from a public international law and comparative law perspective.

Contrary to all expectations, Japan's long-term recession has provoked no sustained political movement to replace the nation's malfunctioning economic structure. The country's basic social contract has so far proved resistant to reform, even in the face of persistently adverse conditions. In Race for the Exits, Leonard J. Schoppa explains why it has endured and how long it can last. The postwar Japanese system of "convoy capitalism" traded lifetime employment for male workers against government support for industry and the private (female) provision of care for children and the elderly. Two social groups bore a particularly heavy burden in providing for the social protection of the weak and dependent: large firms, which committed to keeping their core workforce on the payroll even in slow times, and women, who stayed home to care for their homes and families. Using the exit-voice framework made famous by Albert Hirschman, Schoppa argues that both groups have chosen "exit" rather than "voice," depriving the political process of the energy needed to propel necessary reforms in the system. Instead of fighting for reform, firms slowly shift jobs overseas, and many women abandon hopes of accommodating both family and career. Over time, however, these trends have placed growing economic and demographic pressures on the social contract. As industries reduce their domestic operations, the Japanese economy is further diminished. Japan has also experienced a "baby bust" as women opt out of motherhood. Schoppa suggests that a radical break with the Japanese social contract of the past is becoming inevitable as the system slowly and quietly unravels.

As the Asian crisis triggered or precipitated the meltdown, a second, objective is to explore the reasons and factors for the breakdown or redundancy of developmental states, distinguishing between domestic transformative capacity and external global factors as identified. A third objective is to cull experiences and lessons beyond East Asia. With many transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe beside China and Indochinese states, the theory and practice of developmental states may be a useful bridge. These are by no means exhaustive and comprehensive aims, questions and issues. For individual developmental states covered in this volume, country-specific lessons may also be drawn for them to be reconfigured to stay relevant. The most important consideration for this volume is to value-add to the literature, both the theory and principles of the Asian developmental state as well as empirical observations observed elsewhere. This volume comprises 13 chapters in two parts.