East Asian Transformation ─ On the Political Economy of Dynamism, Governance and Crisis

From the re-emergence of Japan as an industrial power in the 1950's through to the rise of China as a potential economic and political behemoth, the story of East Asian transformation has been central to any serious analysis of the dynamics and trajectory of the global political economy. Integrated into a coherent, critical narrative, this book examines key political-economic and social dynamics that helped forge the 'miracle' economies of East Asia and continue to drive them forward in the volatile circumstances of our current epoch. Insisting that a discourse of 'transformation is the most appropriate for understanding contemporary change, this book analyses such issues as the relation between states and markets, the changing nature of economic governance and its relation to inequality, the causes of economic crises and the rise of China and its global consequences. Historically informed and comparative in nature, the book contributes to the analysis of the transformations of Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and China and is the first to cover the ground in one volume. Written by a loading analyst of East Asian and international development, the hook uses an open, non-technical language, making it useful as an advanced textbook for East Asian studies, international political economy, development studies and cognate subjects.

Jeffrey Henderson is Leverhulme Research Professor of International Development and Co-Director of the Centre for East Asian Studies in the University of Bristol, UK.