International politics of the Asia-Pacific, 1945-1995

This historically-based analysis by Michael Yahuda of the changing condition of international politics in a diverse Asia-Pacific is both timely and comprehensive. It is timely because the recent end of the Cold War has had the effect of transforming a strategic environ ment which has long been distinguished by a close and turbulent junction of regional and global tensions. That longstanding junction has given way to a new and uncertain balance or distribution of power concurrent with a regional registration of self-confidence based on economic achievement but without its translation into a coherent regional consciousness. In order to address the changing and challenging circumstances of post Cold War Asia-Pacific, resi dent states have established unprecedented multilateral institutions for interrelated economic and security dialogue and this study pro vides a sound scholarly perspective from which to assess their respective roles and aptitudes for managing regional order.

That scholarly perspective is based on the comprehensive way in which this study traces the international political experience of the Asia-Pacific since the end of the Pacific War and the onset of decolonization. To that end, Michael Yahuda concentrates attention on the interactions between three factors which have shaped politi cal and security developments. He examines in turn the impact regionally of the dynamics of the former central strategic balance, the conflicts and accommodations involving the regional major powers and then the problems of identity and national security of the new or newly-established states. This masterly encapsulation brings the reader back to the point of entry of the volume at which the new-found significance of the Asia-Pacific with its economic dynamism and embryonic multilateral institutions is discussed. A prominent feature of the analysis is the place of China in a region where Russia is a minor force, where Japan is loath to assume Michael Yahuda concludes this work of vast scope and intellectual depth by posing the intriguing question of whether or not China in its resurgent mode may well provide a new basis for reviving the erstwhile and troublesome junction between regional and global politics.