Regionalism & Globalization in East Asia - Politics, Security & Economic Development

1. East Asia – a region that looks likely to exert a profound influence on the course of global history in the twenty-first century. The sources of this influence are to be found in the region’s remarkable economic development and increasing strategic significance. One of the most striking things about East Asia and the countries that compose it is its internal heterogeneity and its distinctiveness from other regions. Indeed, if there is one observation thai is always made about East Asia it is about its diversity. Whether this diversity is measured in terms of living standards, political systems, or religious beliefs, there is much that distinguishes one East Asian country from another.
2. Yet, despite all this diversity and uncertainty, there is increasing interest in attempting to give political and institutional expression to a distinct East Asian region, even if its precise borders remain contested and uncertain. If a more self-consciously realized, increasingly coherent, regional development process does continue, however, it will be one of the most important regional and global political development since the Second World War for, despite the East Asian crisis that erupted so unexpectedly in 1997, and despite the moribund performance of the Japanese economy throughout the 1990. East Asia remains a crucial and increasingly important part of the global economy.