The seminar provided an analysis of Malaysia’s capitalism form the perspective of the Régulation framework, which is used to assess two major changes since 2009, namely, ambivalence of the changing State-Business ties and the China-oriented shift of international integration.
Malaysian Capitalism Amongst Diverse Asian Capitalisms: A New Theoretical Framework
Tuesday, 19 July 2016
– Dr Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux, an Associate Professor at University of Rennes 2, France, is currently concluding her two year research in Malaysia where she is an Associate Researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Her presentation, entitled ‘Malaysian Capitalism Amongst Diverse Asian Capitalisms: A New Theoretical Framework’, attempts to explain Malaysia’s capitalism from the perspective of régulation theory.
Dr Elsa Lafaye de Michaeux presenting an overview of the emergence of régulation theory in the 1970s at the start of the seminar. Seated with her is Dr Lee Hock Guan, ISEAS Senior Fellow. (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)
Dr de Michaeux gave a detail overview of the emergence of régulation theory in the 1970s, especially in France that coincided with the new “structuralist” trends in Marxism (Louis Althusser), anthropology (Claude Levi Strauss) and history/philosophy (Michel Foucault). In the 1980s, régulation theory investigations were confined to mainly studies on American and European capitalisms and around year 2000 a few started to analyse East Asian capitalisms. Dr de Micheaux is one of a handful of scholars in recent years who are using regulation theory to analyse Southeast Asian capitalisms.
Dr de Michaeux answering questions regarding the régulation theory (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)
Following régulation theory, she uses five key institutions form, namely state-economy relationship, monetary regime, labor nexus, competition and international integration, to clarify the specificities of Malaysian capitalism. Institutions are codification of social relations. In Malaysia, the accumulation regime is dominated by the state-economy relationship and followed by international integration, monetary regime, competition and labor nexus. An important founding compromise at the national level in Malaysia that has shaped the régulation mode and the growth regime is the historical consensus that came in the form of the New Economic Policy (NEP) that delegated to the ethnic-based redistributive role by the state. Over time the NEP has been updated and amended and the state retained its redistributive role that continued to shape growth in Malaysia.
Participants attending the 1.5-hour morning seminar (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)
Over 20 participants attended the seminar.