Search

Since President Jokowi came to power in October 2014, Indonesia’s foreign policy has undergone fundamental change, most obviously in the state’s emphasis on domestic priorities rather than global e...

The 21st century may well be marked as the century of Asia. The rise of Asian countries in world politics provides conditions for the possible emergence of an Asian-influenced international system and an Asian perspective on global governance. In this aspect, Asian values would be suggested for the philosophical foundation for Asian-centric version of global governance. However, without examining the core concept of Asian values thoroughly, advocacy of Asian values grounded in de facto crude material powers of Asian countries would not have any chance to make their voice heard rightly. Also, just projection of Asian values as the tool to blame Western countries for greedy imperialism and to suggest a brand new political and philosophical basis for global governance unilaterally does not make a huge contribution to the international society so long as Asian values totally disregard core value system, including human rights, democracy and liberalism prevalent in a global relations. In this regard, any claims concerning Asian values should be tested in terms of both possible merits and demerits for a new basis for global governance. For the purpose of gaining meaningful support from the international society, Asian values should make an attempt to reflect current development of the global society, such as fostering human rights, establishment of democratic governance and laying a sound foundation for economic liberalism. Needless to say, advocacy of Asian values point rightly out that these development of the international society are mainly made by interests of Western countries and that Non-Western countries do have difficulty to adjust themselves to these development. However, as noted above, just suggesting Asian values as the alternative basis for the global governance without correcting Asians values inherent weakness would be understood as another grumbling about well established principles of the global governance. Reexamining the core concept of Asian values, rectifying Asian values" weakness and adapting Asian values to current development of international relations, Asian values ultimately make a huge contribution to international society through correcting international injustices brought by Western values. With a view to expanding the core value of Asian values, it is high time for Asian values to review its merits and demerits as the possible candidate for new political philosophy in the age of Asian century.

In this first article in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Asian Energy Studies (JAES), the scene is set for further discussions and debates on the energy challenges in Asia. Energy is fundamental to economic development. Thus far, Asia has been largely meeting its skyrocketing energy demand through conventional technologies based on fossil fuels. However, challenges relating to energy security, local pollution, and global climate change mean that such a path is no longer feasible and Asian countries must meet their growing energy demands in a more sustainable manner. Addressing these challenges is not only critical to the realization of the Asian century, but also to global sustainable development. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary energy studies have much to offer in addressing these pressing issues. The mission of JAES is to provide a free and international forum for scholars and professionals working in this exciting and important field of study. DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 830 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Declining fertility and mortality rates in the second half of the twentieth century have led to the twenty-first century being characterised as the century of the aging population. Concurrently, the decline in the numbers of young people entering the labour force is exacerbating the problems arising from the aging population. Implications of these trends are analysed for a variety of Asian countries. Labour force growth in India and Pakistan will be sufficient to compensate for the shrinking labour forces in Europe and Asia excluding the massive fall in China; outsourcing labour to South Asia will be an increasing trend in the twenty-first century. The Asian countries with less problematic demographic structures are instead facing economic challenges and require education and training to improve labour productivity.

This article explores the utility of a constructivist-media communications approach to understanding the production of national identity in Australia through a case study of the Australian Labor Party's 2011 decision to allow uranium sales to India. The decision came at a time when Australian foreign policy, political debate and news media discourse were increasingly concerned with India and China, as ‘rising’ superpowers whose prominence offered opportunities for economic prosperity even as it undermined settled regional power balances. This article finds that, rather than a matter of rational strategy, the decision was made in a context of considerable anxiety about the ‘Asian century’ as the Australian public, politicians and policymakers struggled to comprehend geopolitical change. It further argues that the constructivist project in international relations can benefit from engaging with insights from media and communications methodologies and by taking a less hierarchical approach to ‘elite’ ...

With the rise of India, China, and Japan, the 21st century is often hailed as the Asian century. Whether these states can collaborate with each other over the long-term in an effort to avoid regional anarchy in the Asia-Pacific is an open question. How U.S.-India ties will evolve constitutes a major determinant of how much stability or strife the Asia-Pacific will experience over the foreseeable future. Selected aspects of this important bilateral relationship will be assessed here. The nature of U.S. grand strategy in Asia, and where India fits in this strategy will be examined. Understanding U.S. grand strategy provides insight to American strategic concerns and their impact on Washington's important bilateral relationships. U.S. and Indian perspectives on grand strategy will then be compared. Finally, how India's grand strategy plays into that country's foreign policy toward the United States relative to overall regional concerns will be evaluated.

Sustainable development in the context of international policy is influenced by western values, with few critical evaluations of its application in Asian contexts. This paper presents the interpretation of sustainable development by businesses, civil society, government at various levels and a selection of graduate students in Phuket, Thailand. In all, 78 hours of observations in public meetings, 70 hours of interviews and 10 hours of sectorally arranged workshops were conducted over a period of two years. Data were transcribed and analysed using established qualitative methods. The paper reports how Thai value systems relate to sustainable development concepts and proposes that a culturally appropriate model is needed for understanding the path to a sustainable future in Phuket. Understanding cultural and social values is the key to sustainability. This will require appropriate network-building that creates change towards a culturally sustainable society. We propose that similar cultural adjustment will be necessary for sustainable development to become effective as an organizing concept in Asia.

This paper discusses the issue of whether the 21st century will be an “Asian century.” According to a study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank, Asia 2050: Realizing the Asian Century, Asian countries will keep growing and eventually account for more than half of global GDP by 2050. The study, however, cautions that developing Asia may fall into the “middle-income trap” where growth stagnates due to the lack of productivity growth. This paper provides baseline projections for the world economy up to 2050 and argues that the “Asian century” scenario may be interpreted as one of the high growth cases for the model, and Asia may face the risk of stagnation due to the middle-income trap and/or “Asian conflict” resulting from political, security, and military tensions in Asia. The paper argues that in order to realise an “Asian century,” developing Asia needs to focus on technological progress, inclusive growth, environmental sustainability, institutional and governance quality, and regional cooperation and integration. It also points to possible global governance structures which are alternatives to an Asia-centric world, such as those of a “China century,” “American century 2.0,” “G-2,” “G-0,” and a “multi-polar” world. As the two major powers in this region, China and Japan need to cooperate with each other to maintain regional peace and security, and help realise the “Asian century.” The paper concludes that even when the “Asian century” arrives and Asia dominates the world in terms of economic size, it does not necessarily mean that Asia will dominate the world politically, institutionally, militarily, or in soft power. The 21st century will likely be a “multi-polar” world where the traditional powers of the West (the United States and European Union countries), Japan, and new rising powers (China, India, and other major emerging economies) collectively manage global economic and political affairs.

This chapter assesses the prospects for Asia overcoming stunted economic and social development, and realizing an Asian Century with advanced economies and middle-class societies. This will depend on how Asia responds to the seven challenges identified in this book. Trump’s America will result in a deterioration in key factors that have driven Asia development—an open US market, a relatively benign security environment and a stable global economic system.

A key aspect of the Asian century discourse is the developmental state model. The chapter investigates the extent to which this model resembles similar models in Europe and whether it is an efficient model of economic governance in a post-industrial economy. The development state is sustained by specific political and cultural features typical to the countries where it has proven most successful, such as Japan and Korea, and therefore is not likely to function in other contexts. The chapter suggests that the development state model is most efficient in an industrial economy but will be less successful in post-industrial economies.

Can an Asian century provide conditions for a more equal, just, and convivial global future? This article suggests that before the future can be contemplated, it is first necessary to take stock of the current state-of-affairs in Asian societies. Using current precedents in Southeast Asian societies, this article considers the prospects of an Asian Century. When seen from this sub-region, the question of finding the right balance to capitalist growth appears to be a foremost challenge as existing frameworks are buckling under the weight of capitalist, environmental, and nationalist entropies. Nonetheless, out of impotence also grew new possibilities at the everyday and intellectual levels. Repulsed by the vileness and futility observed, ordinary people, especially the young, are counteracting against power and social norms and creating alternative political strategies and public spheres in the process. Likewise, a transnational “critical Asian Studies in Asia” movement has enabled scholars to consolidate efforts to disarm hegemonies and find solutions to the complex dilemmas of the region. While no clear futuristic paradigms have emerged, state, economy, and society are all forced into gradual transformations as long as ordinary people and experts keep alive the struggle against all kinds of oppression and exclusion.

Many official and private commentators, particularly in Australia and in the Asian region, argue that the world is heading inexorably towards an ‘Asian Century’. They foresee a fundamental shift of economic and political power away from the West that will transform the world economy and global politics. I argue that, notwithstanding emerging Asia's undoubted economic achievements, this claim is premature and potentially misleading for three main reasons: implicit in many of these claims are implausible historical analogies with earlier eras of European and American dominance; linear projections of continued Asian growth outperformance may not be realised in practice; and even if rapid growth were to be sustained, the domestic and external obstacles to the collective global influence of Asia will probably remain profound. The implication is that businesses, citizens and policy-makers, especially those operating in the Asian region, will face a much more uncertain and challenging environment than is sometimes acknowledged.

After liberalized it’s economic policy in 1991, India emerges as a new emerging power in the world. By the year, it’s economic power supports the strengthening of it’s politics, military and cultures. Such condition invited Indonesia to be closer to India as what they had in previous time, since both countries also have consciousness on the emergence of Asian century after American and Europe have become weaker. Through this paper, I will position Indonesia and India mapping in International politics, particularly in term of their economic power. By this effort, it will be clear how important the reactualization of Indonesia-Indian bilateral relations in this globalized era. I also will analyze the prospect and obstacles of both countries relations.

Two issues are addressed. Is a shift from U.S. primacy to a multipolar global power structure likely? If so, is it likely to be peaceful or conflictual? Discontinuities could disrupt linear trends but by 2050, China, the US, the European Union, and India are likely to be the four largest economies. Asian integration will reinforce Asia's increasing global economic share, suggesting the prospect of an Asian century from the mid-21st century, ending U.S. economic primacy. U.S. military primacy is massive and more durable than U.S. economic primacy, but the power conferred by it is limited in scope. A peaceful power shift is most likely because of four mutually reinforcing factors. Firstly, nuclear deterrence makes the consequences of major power conflict catastrophic, so political solutions are the only viable modes of dispute resolution. Secondly, complex interdependence based on economic integration confers major benefits from peaceful commerce. Thirdly, norms and practices in East Asia over three decades of peace are reinforced by East Asian Summits and other forums for peaceful dispute resolution, confidence building, and security cooperation. Fourthly, human agency is inherently unpredictable, but a gradual power shift need not involve existential conflict over vital Chinese, EU, Indian or U.S. interests.

This review will focus on the role of Asian entrepreneurship in the international business world. As we are now considered to be in the Asian century, it is important to see how business grows, develops, and changes based on entrepreneurship. Asian entrepreneurship is unique to the geographic area but also encompasses people, business, and government that has a focus on Asia and is part of the global community. The continuing rapid evolution of Asian economies over the next decade will require a focus on entrepreneurship as it incorporates technology and innovation change. More countries in Asia need to focus on entrepreneurship as a way to achieve global best practice and to make breakthroughs in science and technology. A focus on the role of entrepreneurship in Asia in order to meet social and sustainable needs is a particular key concern of many governments and trade organizations around the world. This article will focus on the book Asian Entrepreneurship as a key reference for understanding and improving the social, environmental, and economic conditions for international business. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This paper analyzes the current and prospective implications of Asia's energy consumption revolution for regional stability. Adopting a comparative and historical approach, I argue that Japanese energy security anxieties worked to reinforce regional alignment patterns in East Asia for nearly two decades following the Shanghai communique, thereby strengthening regional stability. Conversely, the post-Cold War period has seen in China and India's rise the emergence of Asian energy super-consumers that are not formally aligned with the United States, but that are increasingly dependent on imported energy supplies to fuel their industrialization. This newfound dependence on energy imports has seen both countries follow Japan's longstanding example in securitizing energy as a policy issue. In the context of an already more contested Asia, this trend towards energy securitization has aggravated regional tensions and will continue to do so unless greater efforts are undertaken bilaterally, regionally an...

This chapter will move beyond theories of responsible leadership to examine how responsible leadership can be enacted through a range of organizational processes. Responsible leadership action in various spheres of human endeavour could address some of the key global issues of the Asian century. In our economic pursuits, the threat of major global financial crises similar to the 2007/2008 global financial crisis remains. In managing our environment, nations have been called upon to mitigate their emission levels. China and US governments’ agreement in November 2014 to reduce emission levels was a step taken in the right direction that directly impacts leading responsible business organizations. Climate change adaptation is vital and remains an opportunity for responsible leaders to address. For example, a single cattle emits as much CO2 to the environment as a normal car during a year. There are significant opportunities to develop alternative sources to satisfy our meat eating habits so that cattle farming is not necessary to fulfil our dietary needs. Water crises will increasingly feature prominently as a major challenge for responsible leaders due to mismanagement and intense competition for already scarce water resources. The river Nile which runs through Egypt and has been its water resource for centuries originates in Ethiopia. Already China is accused of moving into Ethiopia with significant investments to build damns to exploit river Nile’s water resources (Nisman 2012). These global issues point to the need for responsible leaders to develop well governed, fiscally healthy and more importantly sustainable organizations. In this chapter, we will examine the opportunities leaders have to enact responsible leadership. First we will look at what decision making options are available for responsible leaders.

Most of the global discourse on diasporas and their potential for facilitating development and reducing poverty in their countries of origin has focused on diaspora communities in Europe and North America. Yet Australia has some of the world’s largest and most active diaspora communities and this chapter seeks to investigate their nature, dynamics and potential. The chapter argues that there are several distinctive aspects of Australian immigration that influence the nature of diaspora engagement in development. In addition, the extent of engagement through the development of migrant associations and other formal and informal linkages is examined. The chapter also addresses policy issues, specifically Australia’s official settlement policy of multiculturalism. At least potentially, this would seem supportive of diaspora development and engagement. However, in Australia the official policy is more about equity, access to services and adjustment. Hence, official state support of diaspora activity is limited and it is left to mainly informal mechanisms to encourage this engagement. There is, however, the beginning of a discussion about the role of diasporas in development. Many of Australia’s immigrants are from Asia and the Pacific so there is potential for diaspora engagement aimed at facilitating development in these origin countries.

As developing Asia seeks to cement the gains from a decades-long economic boom and sustain its growth momentum, it will need to take bold action to address the plethora of governance challenges facing the region. Failure to address these challenges will lead to widened governance deficit in government, businesses and institutions. Policy prescriptions for good governance abound, but true change will need to come from within the region. There is no short-cut to building good governance. We believe that endogenous factors—changing demographics, increasing urbanization, an expanding middle class—will drive demand for good governance in the region. It is hoped that the new aspirations accompanying the prospect of realizing the Asian Century and attaining higher living standards as well quality of life will transform governance across the region.

For Asia to realize the Asian Century in 2050 and reach per capita income levels similar to Europe today, its fast-growing converging economies must sustain their growth momentum. The slower growing countries must accelerate their growth to achieve convergence status during this period. The underlying requirement for both groups is continued rapid improvement in total factor productivity (TFP). Although it may sound ambitious and though it is definitely not preordained, Asia can reach this dream if its economies strive for excellence in the areas of productivity and innovation, while learning from the best practice in the region and beyond. This article addresses the TFP level and performance of Asian economies, the salient underlying factors, and the strategies that Asian economies must pursue to make further improvement.

Hugh White has advanced a lucid, provocative but ultimately unduly pessimistic assessment of the region's strategic trajectory in his latest Quarterly Essay. While White argues that American primacy has underwritten the past forty years of peace, and that shifting power relativities will likely catalyse a revival of regional strategic contestation, I contend that Asian states have themselves played a critical role in consolidating and deepening the post-1972 peace through their adoption of self-strengthening strategies that link their continued security and prosperity to the preservation of the existing international order. Whereas the region's demographic giants (China, India and Indonesia) once pursued self-strengthening strategies involving a mixture of autarky at home and revisionism abroad, they have each since progressively abandoned these policies in favour of self-strengthening programs that seek to enhance states' security and prosperity through their deeper integration within a predominantly lib...

Many are today arguing that the 21st century will be “the Asian Century,” and much ink has been spilled over the splendid achievements of Asia as evidence of such arguments. However, this paper suggests some reservations regarding that argument, though also some distant hopes. First of all, we do not know yet what Asia really is, as there are too many geographical Asias. More effort should be made to conceptualize the geographical, or geopolitical, boundaries of Asia, which are both too blurred and too intertwined among sub-identities within Asia, and without. Second, Asia still has a lot of matters that need to be resolved by Asians themselves before the optimistic and audacious expression “Asian Century” can be legitimately used. In resolving those matters by themselves through international cooperation, the conceptual boundary of Asia could become clearer and a shared Asian geopolitical identity would have more possibility of emerging.

As we move further and further into the twentieth century, the Western ‘global governance’ norm of interventionism is being challenged by East Asian norm of non-interference and territorial integrity. The two sets of norms are historically and philosophically rooted and have influential backers. Intriguingly, while the two approaches appear irreconcilable, some countries have lent their support to both sets of norms. As East Asia emerges as a major force in global relations can a way be found for the two sets of contrasting norms to exist side-by-side, perhaps each governing particular regional relations, or is it even possible that a compromise set of ‘global’ norms might be developed?

This paper very briefly surveys current research on Asian economic development, and also discusses several recent papers on the contributions of economic history to understanding development. I then review the contributions of the papers in this special volume of Explorations in light of these two literatures.

Because of Asia's remarkable economic performance since the 1980s, some observers have predicted Asia's rise and the coming of a Pacific Century. We doubt this optimistic view. In the knowledge-based economy, ways of amassing wealth have changed, and better criteria for evaluating economic development are needed. This study compares research and development activities of four Asian developing countries – China, India, South Korea and Taiwan – with those of two advanced economies – the USA and Japan – to emphasise a neglected trend. The Asian cases do succeed in the information technology industry, a typical sector in the knowledge-based economy. None the less, Asia may be lagging further behind in relative terms. We show that this may not be the Asian century. In addition, it is possible that the battlefield between multinationals will switch from markets to intellectual property courts.

The history of the Korean Peninsula is one of subjugation, of a country trampled on as its neighbours have pursued their own broader strategic goals. Today, still, South Korea (also known as the Republic of Korea—ROK) finds itself flanked by the central players of the ‘Asian century’: the United States, China and Japan. Recognising that traditional patterns of hard-power dominance are shifting around it, South Korea’s response has been to develop its foreign policy strategy in two directions. On the one hand, South Korea has been looking to strengthen and stabilise relations with key emerging regional players, such as China and, more recently, India. Its aim of strengthening the relationship with China can largely be explained in pragmatic terms: China is central to the ROK’s economic and strategic future. As well as South Korea’s economic dependency on the Chinese economy, China would also play a significant role in any future Korean reunification scenario (Snyder, 2014, pp.308–9). Yet, with this awareness in mind, South Korea exhibits a great deal of caution, which stems from a troubled historical relationship with its powerful neighbour. There is real concern in Seoul that the country may one day find itself in an unenviable position of having to weigh the value of its relationship with China against its strategic alliance with the United States.

Hardly more than a decade old, the twenty-first century has already been dubbed the Asian Century in recognition of China and India s increasing importance in world affairs. Yet discussions of Asia seem fixated on economic indicators gross national product, per capita income, share of global trade. Makers of Modern Asia "reorients our understanding of contemporary Asia by highlighting the political leaders, not billionaire businessmen, who helped launch the Asian Century.The nationalists who crafted modern Asia were as much thinkers as activists, men and women who theorized and organized anticolonial movements, strategized and directed military campaigns, and designed and implemented political systems. The eleven thinker-politicians whose portraits are presented here were a mix of communists, capitalists, liberals, authoritarians, and proto-theocrats a group as diverse as the countries they represent.From China, the world s most populous country, come four: Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Revolution; Zhou Enlai, his close confidant; Deng Xiaoping, purged by Mao but rehabilitated to play a critical role in Chinese politics in later years; and Chiang Kai-shek, whose Kuomintang party formed the basis of modern Taiwan. From India, the world s largest democracy, come three: Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Indira Gandhi, all of whom played crucial roles in guiding India toward independence and prosperity. Other exemplary nationalists include Vietnam s Ho Chi Minh, Indonesia s Sukarno, Singapore s Lee Kuan Yew, and Pakistan s Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. With contributions from leading scholars, Makers of Modern Asia" illuminates the intellectual and ideological foundations of Asia s spectacular rise to global prominence."

This path-breaking book investigates the challenges of realizing the Asian century. Prosperity in Asia does not only mean economic growth; the issues of public health, sanitation, income equality, the social safety net and efficient use of natural resources are also important. It argues for new policy initiatives in social, environmental and natural resource areas of South, Southeast and East Asia.

This path-breaking book investigates the challenges of realizing the Asian century. Prosperity in Asia does not only mean economic growth; the issues of public health, sanitation, income equality, the social safety net and efficient use of natural resources are also important. It argues for new policy initiatives in social, environmental and natural resource areas of South, Southeast and East Asia.

This path-breaking book investigates the challenges of realizing the Asian century. Prosperity in Asia does not only mean economic growth; the issues of public health, sanitation, income equality, the social safety net and efficient use of natural resources are also important. It argues for new policy initiatives in social, environmental and natural resource areas of South, Southeast and East Asia.

This path-breaking book investigates the challenges of realizing the Asian century. Prosperity in Asia does not only mean economic growth; the issues of public health, sanitation, income equality, the social safety net and efficient use of natural resources are also important. It argues for new policy initiatives in social, environmental and natural resource areas of South, Southeast and East Asia.

This path-breaking book investigates the challenges of realizing the Asian century. Prosperity in Asia does not only mean economic growth; the issues of public health, sanitation, income equality, the social safety net and efficient use of natural resources are also important. It argues for new policy initiatives in social, environmental and natural resource areas of South, Southeast and East Asia.

While the twenty-first century has been hailed by some as the Asian century, the region has, since the turn of the century, also seen its share of man-made and natural disasters, including financial crises, earthquakes, and tsunamis, and the consequent rise in commodity prices. While Asia, unlike the USA, recovered quickly from the most recent crisis of 2008 sparked off by the US housing crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, it is now watching closely the unfolding of the Euro-zone crisis and its potential fallout on the region. The slow recovery in the USA and the slowdown of China are also potential triggers for further economic distress in the region. It does not help that natural disasters also appear to be occurring with increasing frequency in the region, impacting the lives and livelihoods of many.

Evidence-based economic policies — pragmatic policies that work — played a major role in Asia’s success in raising its living standards in the last half century. However, growth prospects are now threatened by rising income inequality and environmental degradation if Asia continues on its established growth path. Evidence strongly argues for Asia to broaden its development priorities into a triple bottom line: that is, a focus on growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.The paper focuses on how Asia can manage this ambitious goal. Possible resistance from vested interests is to be anticipated, but pursuing this path could bring large overall gains. The paper looks at how Asian governments and their development partners can make a difference in promoting the three policy objectives. Innovations in governance for better accountability, transparency, and feedback will be necessary for achieving these priorities.Societies in Asia and the international community will also need rigorous evidence and analysis to establish the benefits of this strategy and to make informed policy choices. International financial institutions and the donor community can provide financial lubricants for cooperation, as well as knowledge to help governments counter vested interests and champion regional perspectives on transborder issues.Reversing the negative social and environmental trends has to become a real development priority rather than a mere aspiration. Progress is possible on the three bottom-line goals, but it will require focusing Asia’s vaunted methods of learning and innovation to meet the new challenges.

The 21st century is the ‘Asian Century’. The global economy is experiencing a fundamental rebalancing as emerging Asian economies experience sustained rapid growth. There are four main growth engines within Asia that will continue to support this Asian ascendancy during the 21st century.

The migration of manufacturing into Asia, notably China and India, has been accompanied by varying degrees of concern by western (traditional) businesses. Initially the use of offshoring by high volume/low value manufacturers was seen as a means by which they could remain price competitive; however the more recent moves by Asian manufacturers into the high value/low volume markets has become both an economic and a political issue in what currently is shaping up to be a more serious economic downturn than the “2008/9 GFC”. The move towards reshoring has been driven by the equalisation of wage rates in Asia and the softening of labour attitudes in western manufacturing countries, specifically in North America: where recently some runaway plants returned home, and there are some positive economic incentives to encourage more domestic sourcing. The paper discusses the current and future opportunities for Western companies in this scenario and suggests there is scope for collaboration between Asian and Western organisations.

This paper explores barriers impacting on leadership in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The rise of the Asian Century is bringing global implications which are driven by leadership. However, what leadership is remains unclear and appears to be many things to many people. The unique contexts of Asia are not adequately explained by the ‘Western’ centric positivist psychological and social-psychological frames of the extant literature. This study brings a ‘macro’ country perspective within the emerging ‘Worldly’ view to investigate leadership through local practice and indigenous notions. Our results suggest that understanding barriers specific to country is important to develop robust leadership practice in the wider Asian context.

Although the United States has been the predominant leader in East Asia for the past sixty-five years, the past decade has raised increasing doubts about whether it will continue in its leadership role. China's domestic consolidation and international emergence provide perhaps the most vivid example of the potential challenge to US leadership in East Asia. Given its global concerns - from financial stability to Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq - it is difficult for the United States to make East Asia its top priority. Whether the United States can lead in the Asian century is an open question without a clear answer. Just as important as whether the United States wants to be a leader is the question of whether other countries are willing to follow. The final issue regarding continued US leadership concerns whether China will emerge to compete with the US for regional leadership. Keywords:China; East Asia; international relations; United States; US leadership

East Asia is an extremely successful region of development in terms of both economic growth, and stable and secure governance. A 2011 study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), on realizing the Asian Century, found that if Asia continues to follow its recent trajectory, by 2050 its per capita income could rise six-fold in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms to reach contemporary European levels, making some 3 billion additional Asians affluent by current standards. ‘By nearly doubling its share of global gross domestic product (GDP) to 52 per cent by 2050, Asia would regain the dominant economic position it held some 300 years ago, before the industrial revolution’ (ADB, 2011, p. 3). Although many countries in East Asia still fall short of the democratic ideal and concerns persist regarding human rights, nevertheless, the idea that the 21st century will be one of Asian dominance and leadership owes much to the success stories of the Northeast and Southeast Asian sub-regions. Indeed under President Barack Obama, the United States, the current global leader, has paid tribute to the rise of the region. In 2009, the first Obama administration dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to East Asia as her first official foreign policy tour, and in 2012, on the cusp of the second administration, a ‘pivot’ toward the region was announced (later the emphasis was placed on the concept of a ‘strategic rebalancing’ toward East Asia).

The prospects and value of economic integration and regionalism in Asia are increasingly evident in what could turn out to be ‘the Asian Century’. It is within this context that this important book explores the critical economic issues, security concerns and political themes pertinent to Asia in general, and to East Asia in particular.

The prospects and value of economic integration and regionalism in Asia are increasingly evident in what could turn out to be ‘the Asian Century’. It is within this context that this important book explores the critical economic issues, security concerns and political themes pertinent to Asia in general, and to East Asia in particular.

The prospects and value of economic integration and regionalism in Asia are increasingly evident in what could turn out to be ‘the Asian Century’. It is within this context that this important book explores the critical economic issues, security concerns and political themes pertinent to Asia in general, and to East Asia in particular.

The prospects and value of economic integration and regionalism in Asia are increasingly evident in what could turn out to be ‘the Asian Century’. It is within this context that this important book explores the critical economic issues, security concerns and political themes pertinent to Asia in general, and to East Asia in particular.

The prospects and value of economic integration and regionalism in Asia are increasingly evident in what could turn out to be ‘the Asian Century’. It is within this context that this important book explores the critical economic issues, security concerns and political themes pertinent to Asia in general, and to East Asia in particular.

China and India’s rapid growth in the last couple of decades is unparalleled in terms of scope and impact in recent history. If one includes Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Asian countries, it is not a surprise that many call the 21st century the Asian century. The prominence of Asia will continue to grow, in both absolute and relative terms in the global economy; so Latin America can ill afford to ignore Asia. Global Latinas will have to both cooperate and compete with Asian firms to succeed on the global stage.

Summary The “rise of Asia” is something of a myth. During 1990–2005 China accounted for 28% of global growth, measured at PPP. India accounted for 9%. The rest of developing Asia, with nearly a billion people, accounted for only 7%, the same as Latin America. Hence there is no general success of Asian developing economies. China has grown better than its developing neighbors because it started its reform with a better base of human capital, has been more open to foreign trade and investment, and created good investment climates in coastal cities. China’s success changes the equation going forward: its wages are now two to three times higher than in the populous Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia), and China will become an ever-larger importer of natural resource and labor-intensive products. Developing countries need to become more open and improve their investment climates to benefit from these opportunities. China itself faces new challenges that could hamper its further development: unsustainable trade imbalance with the U.S., energy and water scarcity and unsustainable use of natural resources, and growing inequality and social tension. To address the first two of these challenges, good cooperation between China and the U.S. is essential. I conclude that we are more likely to be facing a “multi-polar century,” than an Asian century.