The economic crisis in Southeast Asia has not been driven only by factors such as pegged exchange rates, heavy short-term foreign borrowing, and hopelessly inadequate financial sector regulation; politics has also been important. Indeed, in any case where there is a massive loss of investor confidence it would be difficult for politics not to be involved. In arguing for some attention to be paid to political factors, this article seeks to focus on one particular variable: political structure. In both Thailand and Indonesia, political structure greatly compounded the task of responding to the crisis and thereby served to intensify the economic destruction even though this common problem originated in different ways and stemmed from different institutional problems.