| Economic globalization encapsulates the compression of space and time as well as the intensified transnational interconnectedness that characterises economic activities---finance, production, trade---at the end of the Twentieth Century. The following work traces a series of pressures and trends emerging In the global political economy with the ultimate aim of determining the implications of globalization for the articulation of capitalism, particularly financial capitalism. Three phenomena are considered: financial globalization as a pressure of convergence, new economic regionalism as a series of culturally specific responses to globalization and the emerging governance function of regional financial centres as intermediaries between the aforementioned counter-movements. This analysis emphasises the financial dimension of globalization for two reasons: first, finance has come to dwarf every other economic activity and wields incredible influence. And secondly, there is a general tendency to interpret the power of finance as neutral and based upon objective indicators. This argument is structured in such a way as to reveal the cultural dimensions of finance. By evaluating Southeast Asian economic regionalism---specifically, the ethnic-Chinese networks which underpin business strategies in Southeast Asia---as a response to globalization and the distinct culture of financial intermediation that has emerged in Hong Kong, the potential for capitalist diversity in the face of rapid globalization is substantiated. |
