Policy Regimes and the Political Economy of Poverty Reduction in Malaysia

Malaysia's 40-year strategy of 'poverty eradication' has met with a great deal of success, yet has caused controversy for its links to ethnically-oriented social restructuring. This book is a critical evaluation of changing policy regimes affecting Malaysia's development, record of industrialization, and efficacy in adapting social policies.

This book is an original, comprehensive and critical evaluation of Malaysia''s 40-year strategy of "poverty eradication" that has been successful in reaching its targets and yet controversial for being linked to the ethnically-oriented social engineering laid down by the New Economic Policy. Departing from narrowly focused studies of limited poverty reduction, the contributors to this volume of essays have brought together in-depth analyses of economic transformation, class and ethnic inequalities, social protection policies, the provision of key social services, political mobilization, and state capacity for planning. The result is a detailed examination of the scope and efficacy of changing policy regimes affecting Malaysia''s post-colonial course of economic development, record of industrialization, and its relative resilience in adapting social policies to national pressures and global changes.