East Asia Through Regimes: Institutions, Power, and Paradigms

A Systematic Analysis of the Asia-Pacific Region from the Perspective of East Asia Expert Professor T.J. Pempel

What is East Asia?

Typifying Ten East Asian Countries by Regime

How Has the United States Influenced East Asia?

What Type of East Asian Regime Does South Korea Represent, and What Political-Economic Regime Type Is China Developing Within the Region?

This book is a translation of the work by Professor T.J. Pempel, a distinguished political economist and East Asia expert in the United States, titled "A Region of Regimes: Prosperity and Plunder in the Asia-Pacific".

The greatest appeal and strength of this book lies in its systematic organization, which typifies the East Asian region and applies a common analytical framework of <state institutions - socio-economic forces - external powers - economic policy paradigms>. It is expected to be of great assistance for an introduction to East Asian regional studies by providing a perspective that surveys the East Asian region comprehensively. We hope it will be an opportunity for many Korean readers, who often have a limited view focused solely on Northeast Asia, to broaden their horizons.

This book comparatively analyzes the political economies of ten East Asian countries through regime types. Firstly, regarding the regional nomenclature, Professor Pempel uses the term Asia-Pacific, but in the translated version, East Asia is used because it is considered more accessible to Korean readers. The subtitle of the original book is 'Prosperity and Plunder in the Asia-Pacific,' but to capture the core content of the book, the terms state institution, economic-social/external forces, and economic paradigm have been rendered as Institutions, Power, and Paradigms.

Rather than naming or classifying East Asia based on 'states' or 'countries,' such as in the cases of Taiwan and North Korea, it is meaningful to approach each as a distinct 'regime,' as presented in the original work, when differentiating the East Asian region. This can be considered the greatest strength and significance of 'East Asia Through Regimes,' as the title suggests.

We hope this book will serve as an opportunity to begin contemplating how to typify and evaluate East Asia, by looking at the region more broadly.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Part I

Chapter 1 Developmental Regimes: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan

Chapter 2 Quasi-Developmental Regimes – Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand

Chapter 3 Predatory Regimes – Philippines, Myanmar, North Korea

Part II

Chapter 4 Contested and Reconstructed Developmental Regimes

Chapter 5 China: A New Hybrid Developmental Regime?

Conclusion

Translator's Postscript