A Political Economy Perspective: Attracting Foreign Direct Investments into Sri Lanka and Vietnam

Abstract

Over the last three decades, developing countries in Asia have directed their economies to focus on increasing their foreign direct investment opportunities as a means of invigorating development and employment opportunities for their citizens. During this time, Sri Lanka has emerged from a destructive civil war while communist Vietnam has embraced market reforms. This paper attempts to record and analyze the foreign direct investment flow outlining the different strategies adopted under various political regimes. The significant contribution of this chapter lies in the identification of adaptive strategies for the two countries that seek to implement new domestic frameworks and international relations.