Both success and crisis in East Asia are interpreted, in the “Washington Consensus”, by reference to the laws of the market, and to the economic policies and institutional frameworks of “countries”. This approach rules out consideration of the connections between economics and politics, the context of imperfect competition, the role of goal-oriented policies, and regional interdependence. This article provides an introduction to the debate about the main factors used to explain growth in East Asia, and goes on to analyze the regionalization process in a context of growth, crisis, and recovery by “regional contagion”.
