Disparities in EIA Systems of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand: Implications for the ASEAN Free Trade Area

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvic M.V.F. Leonen ◽  
Joseph Sedfrey S. Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Trade Area

Understanding Policy Shift: Class Interests, Exogenous Pressure, and Policy Reform in the Philippines

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-60
Author(s):  
Dennis D. Trinidad
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Policy Shift ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Partnership Agreement

The paper is a theoretical discourse on policy shift, defined as the turning point or threshold by which policymaking agents abandon old policy preferences in favor of new ones. It contends that policy shift is contingent upon two factors: (1) the nature of elite interests, and (2) exogenous pressures like world prices and economic crises. The dismantling of cohesive elite interests is essential before policy shift could take place. Exogenous pressures can help achieve this by altering the settings which define these interests. Specifically, the paper examines the liberalization of trade and investment in the Philippines as an episode of policy shift. In the 1980s, the sudden reversal of international prices of agricultural products forced many agrarian elites to abandon agriculture and shift to other more lucrative business ventures like services and manufacturing. In the process, they explored new areas of interest and formulated corresponding sets of policy preferences. Against this backdrop and under a new constitution, former President Fidel V. Ramos and his successors pursued liberalization. The trend toward further economic liberalization became irreversible due to the country’s commitment to international agreements such as the World Trade Organization, ASEAN Free Trade Area, ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and the proposed Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.

WILL ASEAN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION PROGRESS BEYOND A FREE TRADE AREA?

2004 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 935-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lay Hong Tan
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Trade Area

The raison d'être of ASEAN was a political one,1 to secure the region's peace, stability, and development. Against all odds, the founding members, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand signed the ASEAN Declaration on 8 August 1967. Brunei was admitted in January 1984, Vietnam in 1995, which was followed closely by Laos and Myanmar in 1997. Thirty-two years later, on 30 April 1999, ASEAN formally encompassed all ten countries of South-East Asia by admitting Cambodia.2

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