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The Asian Financial Crisis and the Architecture of Global Finance. Edited by Gregory Noble and John Ravenhill. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 310p. $64.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.
Ethan B. Kapstein, Insead Business School
The problem of how social organizations achieve stability has occupied political scientists since the very beginning of the discipline. For this reason, much literature is devoted to analyzing consequential episodes of instability-wars, revolutions, and political and economic crises. In the subfield of international relations, the search for stability brings with it particular theoretical and empirical challenges, given the absence of centralized, authoritative centers for conflict management.
This edited volume is a noteworthy addition to the study of instability in the global financial system and the domestic and international efforts by governments to shore up that system. Written on the heels of the Asian financial crisis, the text has an immediacy that is refreshing, but sacrifices little in terms of analytical rigor. The editors and contributors are to be commended for their ability to look at a recent crisis with some sense of detachment and produce a work of real value to scholars of international political economy.
During the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and...