Trial by Development: Senian "Concurrence" in the New Asian Developmentalism

Building on the development theory of Amartya Sen, this study takes the Asian Crisis as a window on the politics of globalization. It follows from Sen's axiom of "development as freedom" that just and sustainable development is best achieved where economic and political priorities are pursued simultaneously. This is the foundation for the "concurrence" model that I adopt in the light of three test cases: the Philippines, Indonesia, and Korea. Sen's model provides what amounts to an Asian Third Way, circumventing the East/West schism that the Crash exposed and exacerbated: made-in-Singapore "Asian values" vs. made-in-America globalization. The new Asian developmentalism is torn between the distinctly Asian antipodes of Senism and Sino-capitalism, which is to say development with or without freedom. The outcome of this trial-by-development will define the meaning of globalization for decades to come.