| Sep 1, 2002

Taking stock of power and purpose in Asia

STRATEGIC ASIA: Power and Purpose 2001-02, edited by Richard J. Ellings and Aaron Friedberg. Seattle, Wash., National Bureau of Asian Research, 2001, 378 pp., $19.95 (paper) Power is the currency of international relations. Incredibly, we still aren’t exactly sure what “power” is, how it ...

| Jul 21, 2002

Flawed assumptions that courted disaster

PEACE, POWER AND RESISTANCE IN CAMBODIA: Global Governance and the Failure of InternationalConflict Resolution, by Pierre P. Lizee. Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press, 2000, 206 pp. (cloth) According to the famous dictum, war is the continuation of politics through other means. Is the reverse true? Is ...

| Jul 7, 2002

Japan's diplomatic balancing act

JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: Domestic Interests, American Pressure and Regional Integration, edited by Akitoshi Miyashita and Yoichiro Sato. Palgrave, 2001, 208 pp., $40 (cloth) Japan is frequently criticized for “punching below its weight” in international affairs. That is another way ...

| Jun 2, 2002

New threats to East Asian security

EAST ASIA IMPERILLED: Transnational Challenges to Security, by Alan Dupont. Cambridge University Press, 2001, 336 pp., $25 (paper) The way we think about national security is changing. Traditionally, the idea of protecting a nation focused on military contests over power, wealth or territory. Not ...

| Apr 21, 2002

And don't come back another day

ARTHRITIC JAPAN: The Slow Pace of Economic Reform, by Edward J. Lincoln. Washington, D.C.:Brookings Institution Press, 2001, 247 pp., $18.95 (paper) Japan’s agonizingly slow attempts to resuscitate its ailing economy have left many observers bewildered. The policy failure is plain: the lowest growth rates ...

Mar 17, 2002

The only certainty is change

THE UNITED STATES AND ASIA: Toward a New U.S. Strategy and Force Posture, by Zalmay Khalilzad, et al. RAND, 2001, 260 pp. (paper). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Asia has enjoyed considerably more stability than has Europe, the other critical theater of ...

| Dec 23, 2001

Rethinking the threat that never was

NO MORE BASHING: Building a New Japan-United States Economic Relationship, by C. Fred Bergsten, Takatoshi Ito and Marcus Noland. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, October, 2001, 328 pp., $23.95 (paper). What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, the United States was ...

| Oct 28, 2001

Engagement or isolation?

KOREAN SECURITY DYNAMICS IN TRANSITION, edited by Park Kyung-Ae and Kim Dalchoon. New York, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001, 209 pp., $45.00 (cloth) The euphoria that followed the historic inter-Korean summit in June 2000 has worn off. North Korea’s peek-a-boo diplomacy — now you see us, ...

Sep 9, 2001

A long-term relationship that works

PARTNERSHIP: The United States and Japan 1951-2001, edited by Akira Iriye and Robert A. Wampler. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001, 333 pp., 3,800 yen (cloth). On Sept. 8, 1951, Japan and the United States, along with 47 other governments, signed a peace treaty that officially ...

Sep 2, 2001

Looking ahead to a reunified Korea

KOREA’S FUTURE AND THE GREAT POWERS, edited by Nicholas Eberstadt and Richard J. Ellings. University of Washington Press, 2001, 361 pp., $22.95 (paperback). Think what you will about North Korea’s Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, but the man has a gift for theater. He ...

Aug 12, 2001

Victimhood in the national psyche

THE VICTIM AS HERO: Ideologies of Peace and National Identity in Postwar Japan, by James J. Orr. University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 271 pp., $22.95 (paperback). August 15 approaches, and once again Japan’s neighbors are up in arms over the prospect of a prime ...

Jun 17, 2001

China no threat to Asia just yet

CHINA AND THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY: Great Power or Struggling Developing State? by Solomon M. Karmel. MacMillan, 2000, 229 pp., 35 UK pounds (cloth). China is a revisionist state. It wants to challenge the existing international order — or at least the way things ...