J OF CHIN POLIT SCI (2010) 15:439–440 DOI 10.1007/s11366-010-9122-2 BOOK REVIEW

Ming Wan, ed. The Political Economy of East Asia: Striving for Wealth and Power Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008, 394p. $39.95 paperback Paul Thiers

Published online: 17 September 2010 # Journal of Chinese Political Science/Association of Chinese Political Studies 2010

Teaching about the political economy of East Asia is difficult because of the tension between comparative and regional identities. Ming Wan addresses this tension head on in this text with an issues based-approach that allows him to move between the nation state and regional level as appropriate. By placing national-level data within issue areas, Wan is able to mark the flow of nations through the region’s identity over time. While not without weaknesses, the historical breadth and the Asiancentric nature of the book make it a positive additional text for a graduate seminar or upper-division course in a strong undergraduate program. The book begins with brief profiles of national political economy but then jumps quickly out of the modern, nation-state context with a historical chapter on the Chinese world order including the position of Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia in that pre-colonial system. This chapter is particularly useful in helping Western students question the assumption of the European nation-state as the only way to organize political economy. The rise of Western and Japanese imperialism, the East Asian economic miracle and the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s are then treated in individual chapters, followed by four chapters on East Asian production, trade, finance and monetary relations. The topical chapters are reasonably well organized with substantial empirical detail and reference to theoretical debates. The text is better than the figures which are sometimes hard to read, and consist of data sets selected perhaps for expediency rather than their explanatory power. The general orientation is neoliberal, though without dogmatic allegiance to orthodoxy. Sadly, as with many IPE texts, human beings are largely absent. The chapters on the Miracle and the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) contain no mention of the positive and negative impacts of these dramatic events on the lives of East Asia’s people. This may, in part, be due to Wan’s view of East Asia’s economic development as unidirectional with the AFC as an anomaly and the recovery as a continuation of the miracle. If the tide keeps rising, why

P. Thiers (*) Washington State University Vancouver, MMC 102S, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA e-mail: [email protected]

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P. Thiers

describe the boats? However, some depiction of the impact of the AFC on individuals and communities would have been useful, particularly in light of the current economic crisis. The book’s main strength is its Asian-centric orientation, though this also a source of some weakness. Many IPE texts portray East Asia through a Western lens, an area of interest primarily because the West interacts with it. Wan’s text contains sufficient background to be accessible for Western students with no previous Asian studies training. But it presents East Asia as an entity in its own right. As we might expect from this author, the shifting roles of China and Japan in setting Asia’s identity are particularly strong. Unfortunately, this means that several external factors do not receive sufficient treatment. US foreign policy receives very little attention and the ebb and flow of US military intervention is missing entirely. Even the role of Western countries and international organizations in promoting neoliberalism is largely absent. Instructors should use supplemental readings or partner this book with a more standard Western text. The focus on issues rather than nations is another strength that also brings liabilities. The contours of East Asia as a whole (growth, production, trade, etc.) are most readily apparent, with the heterogeneity of East Asia’s nation-states coming through upon closer examination. This is, I believe, particularly useful for students who need first and foremost to gain an understanding of East Asia as a whole and then be lead to knowledge of individual nations. Unfortunately, Wan’s issue-based approach will make this book age more quickly. The simple addition of paragraphs and timelines, so common in revised additions of nation by nation surveys, will not be possible for this book. Rather the current economic crisis seems likely to turn the chapters on production and finance into historical snapshots. The book’s neoliberal orientation to regulation seems particularly anachronistic. More current supplemental readings might be constructively paired with these chapters to drive home to students the reality of the seismic shift taking place in the global system. Ming Wan’s text is a good addition to the tools available for teaching East Asian political economy to graduate or upper division undergraduate students. While the Asian-centric and issues based approaches are not without their liabilities, these qualities provide a positive complement to a more traditional textbook or other supplemental materials. Paul Thiers received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Oregon in 1999. He is now an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington State University’s Vancouver campus where he teaches comparative and international political economy in the Program in Public Affairs. His research focuses on political issues relating to globalization, international trade and rural development (including sustainable agriculture and rural renewable energy) in China and the Pacific Rim. Dr. Thiers can be contacted at [email protected].