Entry

Subic Bay freeport conversion

Subic shows a strategic site moving from military infrastructure into commercial operating terrain.

Author: Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority
Year: 1992
Track: zones
Citation: Republic of the Philippines, Subic Bay freeport conversion record, 1992.

Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Olongapo, Zambales, Philippines — former U.S. Naval Base converted to a special economic zone in 1992 — Sindre Helvik, 2012, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Subic shows a strategic site moving from military infrastructure into commercial operating terrain. Its place in the canon is not decorative. It marks a recurring problem for American economic statecraft: how law, capital, operators, and legitimacy combine when a nation tries to build strategic economic terrain.