Introduction

East Asia has in many ways been the cockpit of the globalization process. If the phenomenon as it is generally defined is largely recognized as a relatively recent one, the countries that have experienced most change during this period have been in the region.

Economic Developments

Rapid economic growth leading to the Tigers label was followed by financial crisis and partial recovery. Underlying this has been the remarkable success story of Japan since the Second World War, followed by the current, seemingly inexorable progress of China towards centrality on the world stage.

Contributors

Jang-Sup Shin has amassed an international team of contributors to shed light on how the various Asian countries have responded to the globalization process. These include James Crotty, Lu Ding and Ha-Joon Chang.