From the Foundations in Global Studies series, this text offers students a fresh, comprehensive, multidisciplinary entry point to East Asia. After a brief introduction to the study of East Asia, the early chapters of the book survey the essentials of East Asian history; important historical narratives; and the region's languages, religions, and global connections. Students are guided through the material with relevant maps, resource boxes, and text boxes that support and guide further independent exploration of the topics at hand. The second half of the book features interdisciplinary case studies, each of which focuses on a specific country or region and a particular issue. Each chapter gives a flavor for the cultural distinctiveness of the particular country yet also draws attention to global linkages. Readers will come away from this book with an understanding of the larger historical, political, and cultural frameworks that shaped East Asia as we know it today, and of current issues that have relevance in Asia and beyond.

"Drawing on work in a range of disciplines-including history, anthropology, demography, development, environmental studies, political studies, health, sociology and the arts-this work approaches East Asia from new perspectives.The book looks at contemporary Japan and Korea and focuses on many facets of Chinese culture, artistic production, economic development, digital issues, education and international collaboration" -

In contrast to the literature's focuses on market, culture, state, and dependency, East Asia and the World Economy points to the crucial role of geopolitical and regional factors in East Asian development. The authors provide a cohesive review of the world-systems model as it applies to East Asia, exploring its intellectual heritage, the historical context through which it arose, its basic assumptions, and its policy implications. To illustrate how this model works in East Asia, the authors examine the economies of Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, North Korea, and Japan. The result is a fascinating study that demonstrates how the world-systems model provides a more focused explanation of East Asia's peculiar pattern of development.

There are six chapters examining the strategic and economic policies of the major external powers towards Southeast Asia and two more focusing on the still unresolved conflict in Cambodia and on the continuing disputes over the ownership of the Spratly Islands. The conclusion assesses the relevance of Southeast Asian experience in the 'New World Order' to the ongoing theoretical debates about democracy, the market, the state and multilateralism.

An East Asian Renaissance, by a World Bank team led by Chief Economist for East Asia & Pacific, Dr Homi Kharas and Economic Adviser, Dr Indermit Gill is the first comprehensive analysis of the new forces and challenges at play in the region since the Bank's seminal report of 1993, The East Asian Miracle. The report argues that regional flows of goods, finance and technology are helping even smaller East Asian countries reap the benefits of economies of scale and that this regional integration must be encouraged. But it also points out that these measures have to be supported by actions at the domestic level to ease the stresses and strains that rapid economic growth leaves in its wake. East Asia must now turn to the urgent domestic challenges of inequality, social cohesion, corruption and environmental degradation arising from its economic success.

Following the disastrous economic downturn of some years ago, the economies of East Asia have struggled to regain stability and equilibrium. As the sequel to East Asia: The Road to Recovery, this book offers both an examination of the state of the East Asian economy and analysis of opportunites in the future. With the crisis stage passed, where does East Asia truly stand, and can one be optimistic about its future prospects? East Asia: Recovery and Beyond offers answers to anyone concerned with the East Asian economies.

In 40 years Japan has developed from a war-devastated and poverty stricken country into the second largest economy in the world. This book analyzes how Japan attained its current financial and technological status and argues that Japan's supremacy over world economies will expand further.

In Power Competition in East Asia, Suisheng Zhao provides the first in-depth, comprehensive analysis of international relations in East Asia. With a focus on the political economy of the region and a special emphasis on security issues, Zhao provides a theoretical survey of the trends in East Asian international relations. He investigates crucial events in the history of the area from the decay of the Chinese world order in the nineteenth century to the vanishing of superpower rivalry and the emergence of a regional multipolarity in the post-Cold War era. By viewing the region through a historical analysis, Power Competition in East Asia serves as a systematic resource for anyone interested in the evolution of power relations in one of the most dynamic areas in the world today.

This is the first textbook survey of the pivotal position occupied by Southeast Asia in both the wider Asian and international economy. Professor Chris Dixon demonstrates how Southeast Asia's role has undergone frequent and profound change as a result of the successive emergence and dominance of mercantile, industrial and finance capital. He shows how the region has developed as a supplier of luxury products, such as spices; as a producer of bulk primary products; and how, since the 1960s, it has become a major recipient of investment and a favored location for labor-intensive manufacturing operations. The author examines how this progressive integration of South East Asia in the world economy has established the dominance of a small number of core areas and, in a concluding chapter, he explores the way in which the restructuring of the world economy in the 1980s has opened Southeast Asia to a new cycle of capitalist penetration.