Economic Law Reforms in the ASEAN Emerging Economies

This book reviews the periodic changes in the legal policies of the late-developing ASEAN countries, often known as the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam), in their continuous path toward globalization after the collapse of the socialist bloc. The book also identifies the characteristics of the legal reforms in their present stage guided by the common framework under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) moving toward 2025.

The first stage is illustrated by the ASEAN-style utilization of foreign investments as reflected in all investment laws and policies of CLMV countries in the 1990s, which featured entry control (as 'sticks') and investment incentives (as 'carrots'). Those controls and incentives were the means to induce investors to assume various performance requirements to contribute to industrial policies. The second stage witnessed a shift toward enhanced liberalization as an endeavor toward the WTO accession during the 2000s, as seen in the integrated investment laws that appealed for the national treatment of foreign investors. At the same time, those investment laws emphasized the substantive provisions (e.g., fair and equitable treatment and indirect expropriation) and procedural protections (e.g., provision of Investor-State Dispute Resolution mechanisms) as an appeal for stabilization of the investment climate. The third stage of legal policy, as evidenced by the recent amendments to the investment laws, is newly focused on environmental and social considerations, which seems to be an indispensable response to the increasing social protests against the negative impacts of investment promotion. Simultaneously, the means of administrative controls over investors, established in the first stage, are uniquely utilized for the realization of new goals.

Terukazu Suruga obtained a Ph.D. in economics at Osaka University, Japan. He is now professor emeritus at Kobe University. He has held several visiting positions at institutions including Washington University, Flinders University, Beijing University, the Mongolian Market Research Institute, KIMEP University, and National University of Laos. He has published numerous papers on foreign direct investment (FDI), development economics, and labor economics. He has written Labour and Employment Society in Laos (in Japanese) and has edited Changing Employment Practices and Female Labor Force (in Japanese).

Phanhpakit Onphanhdala obtained a Ph.D. in economics in 2008 from Kobe University, Japan, where he worked during 2008-2011, and at the National University of Laos during 2011-2019. He was the deputy director of the Research Center under the National Institute for Economic Research, Lao PDR, during 2019-2020. Currently, he is a senior economist and independent researcher. His research interests include labor market analysis, FDI and trade, agribusiness, logistics, and economic integration.

Yuka Kaneko, LL.D., is a professor and the deputy executive director at the Center for Social Systems Innovation, Kobe University, Japan. She is specialized in Asian comparative law, law and development, law and society, and disaster law. Her edited books include Asian Law in Disasters: Toward a Human-Centered Recovery (Routledge, 2016), Civil Law Reforms in Post-Colonial Asia: Beyond Western Capitalism (Springer, 2019), Land Law and Disputes in Asia: In Search for an Alternative Development (Routledge, 2021), Build Back Better: Issues of Asian Disaster Recovery (Springer, 2021), Insolvency Law Reforms in the ASEAN Emerging Economies: Consequences of the Donor Model Designed for Economic Crises (Springer, 2022) and Reallocation of Social Risks in a Pandemic: Changing Law and Contractual Relations of Asian SMEs under COVID-19 (Springer, 2022). She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Japanese Association of Sociology of Law, and also a member of the Editors-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Law & Society.