East and West Online

East and West Online

Asian Tiger economies did not develop because of authoritarian leadership; they developed in spite of it! This is a sharp documentary made for television about economic and political development in Asia. The series is written and presented by the former and last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten. The series focuses on South Korea, China and the South East Asian tiger countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. It traces their rapid economic development, typically from the mid twentieth century, and ends with the aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial crisis. The series was made in 1998 and aired in connection with Governor Patten's publication of a book by the same title "East and West". A center point in the book and TV series is that the Asian tiger countries all developed with a strong man at the helm and without the typical checks and balances of a democratic society. Patten shows how the societies therefore lacked the mechanisms to avert the financial crisis that ...