Introduction. The Asia Pacific World: A Summary and an Agenda (original) (raw)

Asia’s Development Experience in the Twenty-first Century

Millennial Asia, 2019

Asia is one of the largest continents in the world in terms of both the size of population and the geographical area. It constitutes of 48 countries, six non-UN States and six as dependent territories. Asia has emerged as the fastest growing region of the world economy during the first two decades of the twenty-first century (The World Bank, 2018). The share of Asia in the global GDP is 46.7 per cent (IMF, 2019). In terms of global trade in goods, Asia accounts for one-third of it. There is a surge in Asian capital flows and air travel and their global share has risen to 23 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively (Woetzel & Seong, 2019). The sustained rise of Asia in the global economy is essentially attributed to the increasing linkages among the Asian countries, in terms of trade of goods, capital flows and air travel. It is not exaggeration to say that Asia has emerged as an engine of economic growth of the global economy. It has moved at a fast pace from a low income to a middle income group. Thus, the twenty-first century can be called as the 'Asian Century'. It is widely acknowledged that the global economy has been undergoing dramatic transformation. The Asian transformation plays the lead role in terms of innovations in public policies, unique short cycle technologies (Lee, 2019) and inter-and intra-regional economic transactions. This region has immensely contributed to the reduction of global poverty and a substantial improvement in social indicators. Asia is highly diverse in terms of structure and stage of economic development across countries (Nayyar, 2019a, 2019b). The emergence of Asia as an economic power faces challenges from the world economic order dominated by the super power. The rising conflict and restrictions on international trade between China and the USA reflects this. However, apart from global challenges,

Asia The Re-Emerging Front-runner (Exploring the Asian Century)

Many of the largest countries in the world are found in Asia. The largest populations, the largest metropolitan cities, oil resources, universities, markets and economies are all found in the largest continent. There's one more thing that's largest in Asia: potential.

Book Review: The End of the Asian Century: War Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region

Caucasus International, 2017

Michael R. Auslin, a former history professor at Yale University, opens his book with the statement, “Since Marco Polo, the West has waited for the Asian Century”. According to Auslin, the world believes that this century has now arrived, but that Asia is a fractured region threatened by stagnation and instability. His book is based on a quarter-century of engagement with and study of Asia, and years of travel throughout the Indo-Pacific region, including three major research trips and several shorter trips starting in 2010. Auslin interviewed dozens of politicians, military officials, academics, business leaders, media figures, and ordinary citizens during these journeys. In this book, Auslin assesses the current situation in Asia as well as its future challenges and prospects. In doing so, he separates the book into seven sections, and provides a pragmatic overview of the region. He starts by presenting the ‘risk map’ of Asia, mapping out five discrete yet interrelated risk regions, aimed at demonstrating that, “the most promising way to reduce risk is to push for greater liberalism and a strengthened rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific” (p. 10). In the second section, Auslin focuses on Asia’s economic miracle. He posits that the region has taken over the mantle of ‘the world’s workshop’ from Western countries, and alleges that this transformation has not been driven by China alone, but by many Asian countries. His main point in this section – and in this book as a whole – is that “today the economic miracle of Asia is at risk from the failure of economic reform to deal with the costs of growth, whether in advanced countries like Japan or developing nations like India and Indonesia” (p. 14).

Future: Asia-Pacific, 2001–2020

The United States in the Asia-Pacific since 1945, 2000

In a fast-moving and incisive narrative, Roger Buckley examines America's close and continuous relationship with the Asia-Pacific region from the end of the Pacific War to the first days of the presidency of George W. Bush. The author traces the responses of the US government to the major crises in the area through the Cold War decades and the initial post-Cold War years. He demonstrates how the United States sought to maintain its dominant regional position through a series of security alliances and its own political, military and economic strengths. Roger Buckley examines the subject from geopolitical perspectives to provide a gateway to the understanding of a complex region certain to be of global importance in the twenty-first century.

Is the 21st Century an “Asian Century”? Raising More Reservations than Hopes

Pacific Focus, 2010

Many are today arguing that the 21st century will be "the Asian Century," and much ink has been spilled over the splendid achievements of Asia as evidence of such arguments. However, this paper suggests some reservations regarding that argument, though also some distant hopes. First of all, we do not know yet what Asia really is, as there are too many geographical Asias. More effort should be made to conceptualize the geographical, or geopolitical, boundaries of Asia, which are both too blurred and too intertwined among sub-identities within Asia, and without. Second, Asia still has a lot of matters that need to be resolved by Asians themselves before the optimistic and audacious expression "Asian Century" can be legitimately used. In resolving those matters by themselves through international cooperation, the conceptual boundary of Asia could become clearer and a shared Asian geopolitical identity would have more possibility of emerging.p afo_1040 161..180

The rise of developing Asia and the new economic order

Journal of Policy Modeling, 2011

This paper identifies emerging trends in the world economy during the next decade. The first is that China will overtake the U.S. in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), ending more than a century of U.S. leadership as the world's largest economy. The second is that Developing Asia, excluding Japan, will overtake the G7, a group of the seven largest industrialized economies established in 1975-6. Finally, India will overtake Japan, Russia will overtake Germany, and Brazil will overtake the U.K., leading to a New World Economic Order: China, the U.S.