Pacific-Asia and the Future of the World-System

By the late 1970s, scholars and journalists were quick to proclaim the dawn of a new era--the Age of the Pacific. The 1980s--with the economic growth of Japan and the Four Dragons, the industrialization of several Southeast Asian states, the growth of new industries on the West Coast of North America and decline of industry in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast, and the collapse of centrally planned economies--seemed to confirm this prognosis. Yet, despite consensus on these issues, there are still questions regarding the future directions of an impending Pacific Century.

This contributed volume considers those questions from a world-historical perspective, with one chapter from the viewpoint of a friendly critic of that perspective. The work opens with an introductory section, including Palat's introductory overview and a consideration of the amorphous nature of the term Pacific Rim. Part II continues to analyze the changing patterns of the relational networks along Asia's Pacific parimeters as integral parts of the ongoing restructuring of the capitalist world-economy, while Part III examines the individual trajectories of two Asian giants--India and China. The final section explores how changes in the patterning of production processes have contoured the nature of antisystemic movements in the 1980s.