The Challenge of China and How NOT to Respond

There is no doubting the status of China as a global economic superpower. Through the wide expansion of its manufacturing sector, with combined elements of statism and neoliberalism, it created historical record double digit growth rates for 30 straight years. By virtue of its massive size, China...

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Constructivist Reflections on the Philippine Political Economy

(This piece was written primarily as a reaction to my International Political Economy professor's, Prof. Amado Mendoza, opinion piece on his Interaksyon opinion column, entitled "How did the PH economy grow despite the messy political situation? Since then, I have realized it is not a reaction...

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The Post-Washington Consensus, Development Models and the Game of Leverage

The world is made up of two actors; there are the ‘rule-makers’ and there are the ‘rule-takers.’ On one hand, the rule-makers have a high degree of both normative and coercive power at their disposal to illicit the obedience of rule-takers. On the other hand, rule-takers, in the absence of sheer coercive...

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