This book analyzes the social forces and political coalitions driving regional integration projects in Asia with a focus on ASEAN and Indonesian conglomerates. It asks which social forces, within the domestic political economy of Asian states, are driving governments to seek regional arrangements for economic governance. In particular the book asks how the emergence, reorganization, and expansion of capitalist class have conditioned political support for regional economic integration. By addressing these issues, the book emphasizes that the wellspring of regional economic institution projects stem from the process of capitalist development and the social forces it has unleashed. The book's aims place the social and class relations that underpin regional projects rather than the institutions which result from themat the centre of the analysis of regional integration. The research for this account draws primarily on primary documents from archival and field research conducted by the authorincluding company documents and in-depth interviews, government reports and policies, and trade publications and data sources, which is supplemented with secondary sources where relevant.

Autorentext
Faris Al-Fadhat is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia and an associate at the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Australia.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Existing Approaches to Economic Regionalism and Their Limitations.- 3. Regional Economic Governance and the Internationalization of Capital.- 4. State Restructuring and the Internationalization of Capital in Southeast Asia.- 5. ASEAN Regional Economic Integration and the Internationalization of Capital.- 6. The Rise of Indonesian Conglomerates: Capital Expansion and Regional Alliance.- 7. The Salim Group and the Social Relations of Capital Expansion.- 8. Conclusion.