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2 - Towards a Modern Fiscal State in Southeast Asia, c. 1900–60

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2019

By
Anne Booth
Edited by
Ewout Frankema  and
Anne Booth
Ewout Frankema
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
Anne Booth
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Summary

This chapter examines the changing role of the state in Southeast Asia in the decades from 1900 through to 1960, a period which covers the last phase of colonialism in the region, and the transition to independence. To what extent did colonial governments establish modern fiscal states in the region? By the end of the nineteenth century the three main European colonial powers, Britain, France and the Netherlands, all controlled substantial territories in the region. The Spanish, who had occupied the Philippine islands since the seventeenth century, ceded control to the Americans after their defeat in the Spanish-American War at the end of the nineteenth century. Siam, which became Thailand at the end of the 1930s, had managed to remain independent, although at the cost of losing territory to both British and French possessions. This chapter compares and contrasts revenue, expenditure and borrowing policies across the major colonial territories and Thailand, and examines the transition to independence in the years from 1946 to 1963, when the Federation of Malaysia was formed.

Keywords

Colonial policiesfiscal modernizationSoutheast Asia
Type
Chapter
Information
Fiscal Capacity and the Colonial State in Asia and Africa, c.1850–1960 , pp. 36 - 76
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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