This volume addresses the problem of military and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, particularly the impact of the end of the Cold War, on the evolution of its four regional subsystems (Australasia, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia), the level of institutionalization in its economic and military dimensions, and the tendency towards regional amity or regional enmity. It investigates the regional institutions of military and economic security organizing the interstate relations of the Asia-Pacific; assesses the military and economic ambitions of China, Japan, and the United States; and suggests that the 'clash of civilizations' thesis is of limited use in understanding the dynamics of interstate relations in this centrally important area of the world.

Contributors are Shigekio N. Fukai, Haruhiro Fukui, Norman A. Graham, Steven A. Hoffmann, Jim Rolfe, Sheldon Simon, James Sperling, and Robert M. Uriu.