Asia's multi-level response to the global financial crisis

Abstract

While the global financial crisis (GFC) precipitated stagnation in the United States and throughout most of Europe, Asia escaped largely unscathed (and notably suffered less economic damage than during the Asian financial crises of a decade earlier). In this article, we examine how the GFC has affected Asian states' attitudes towards and participation in regional and global institutions. The GFC produced a significant disjunction in Asia's inter-governmental relations in finance and trade at both the regional and global levels, most notably manifested in the multilateralisation of the Chiang Mai Initiative, and Asia's new role in global economic governance courtesy of its representation in the G20. However, substantial continuities are also evident in the divided interests of Asian countries: these not only threaten the effectiveness of regional cooperation but continue to prevent the region from effectively exercising its collective economic weight in global forums