What this lesson teaches
I can judge which factors, at home and abroad, did most to shape economic change in Southeast Asia.
Syllabus 9174, Paper 2, Theme II, Learning Outcomes. evaluate the factors shaping economic change in different contexts and over time
Make a guess
Domestic conditions, government decisions and outside conditions all shaped Southeast Asian growth. Which do you think mattered most?
- Outside conditions, because they decided which countries could grow.
- Natural resources, because they fixed each country's path.
- Government decisions, because they decided how countries used the rest.
Show the answer
Government decisions, because they decided how countries used the rest.
Thailand and the Philippines were alike in many ways, yet different policies gave very different results.
Government decisions mattered most, because they decided how countries used their conditions and their outside opportunities.
Domestic conditions set the opportunities and limits, such as oil wealth or the lack of a home market.
External conditions created chances and shocks: Cold War aid, the oil boom, Japanese investment and the 1997 crisis.
Government strategies decided how countries responded. Singapore and Malaysia used foreign investment to industrialise, while Burma shut itself off. Thailand and the Philippines were similar in size and both mainly rural. Yet Thailand's stable, business-friendly policies brought fast growth, while the Philippines under Marcos wasted its borrowing on cronies.
Private businesses turned policy into production, but they worked within the rules that governments made.
A strong essay shows how these factors interacted. It compares at least three countries to show why similar conditions led to different results.
- Conditions
- Set opportunities and limits.
- External
- Chances and shocks.
- Government
- Decided responses; mattered most.
Real examples to use
Same conditions, different choices
Thailand and the Philippines were both mainly rural, but Thailand grew steadily while the Philippine economy shrank about 7 per cent in both 1984 and 1985 under Marcos.
Same shock, different responses
When oil fell in 1986, Indonesia devalued and opened up to exports, turning a shock into a manufacturing boom.
Closed versus open
Burma, closed after 1962, was listed among the least developed countries in 1987, while Singapore, open to multinationals since the EDB's founding in 1961, became one of Asia's richest states.
Worked example: Building a comparative judgement
Which factor shaped economic change most?
- Criterion: which factor explains the different results of similar countries?
- Thailand and the Philippines: similar size, different results.
- Explanation: government choices.
- Judgement: government mattered most, within conditions it could not control.
Watch out for this
External conditions decided everything.
All countries faced the same world economy, but their results differed widely. Government choices explain much of that difference.
Check your understanding
Why compare Thailand with the Philippines in an essay on factors?
- Neither economy grew in the period.
- They had identical colonial histories, rulers and systems, so their economies were the one difference.
- Both were similar in size and mainly rural, but their policies and results differed.
Show the answer
Both were similar in size and mainly rural, but their policies and results differed.
Right. It isolates the role of government.