ohammed Ayoob, ôDefining Security: A Subaltern Realist perspectiveö in Critical Security Studies, eds. Keith Krause & Michal C. Williams (Minneapolis, MN: The university of Minnesota Press, 1997), 121-148.
is most important to it. This ability to protect is dependent on more than military power; it is rooted in economic sufficiency and stability. This was brought out clearly during the economic crisis suffered in Thailand mid-way through 1997
and lasting until 1998. Although Thailand had enjoyed 40 years of continuous growth, this ôdeep economic contractionö was brought on by two unforeseen crises: a currency crisis followed by a banking crisis2. After having grown rapidly and achieved macroeconomic stability, as well as seeing a decline in poverty, Thailand had been through a boom in its economy from 1987 to 1996, where it was the fastest growing economy in the world; this boom was driven by inordinately high levels of domestic and foreign investment2. The boom created a bubble economy, in which over-confidence was high and
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