APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism/Asia-Pacific Strategic Relations: Seeking Convergent Security/Asian Economic Recovery: Policy Options for Growth and Stability/Macroeconomics for Business and Society: A Developed/Developing Countr

摘要

These four books bring a range of perspectives to the future of Asian economies; indeed, two (Ravenhill and Tow) belong to the literature of international relations rather than economics, and one (Adams) is a textbook in macroeconomic theory whose examples and applications rely heavily on recent Asian experience. The fourth (Tan) is a conference volume, the bulk of it pursuing the now familiar debate about the sources of and appropriate responses to the 1997-1998 financial and economic crisis, particularly the role of IMF-recommended policies. Tow's Asia-Pacific Strategic Relations is an overview of regional security issues. It uses a framework of "realist" (positing an anarchical international environment in which states primarily seek to maximize political power) versus "liberal" (emphasizing the utility of international regimes or institutions that encourage states to cooperate and seek positive-sum economic gains) approaches, to delineate the past and present security policies of the region's main actors. Five separate sections treat China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan (as key secondary players), ASEAN and Australia (as the players potentially most interested in a "liberal" and regional orientation), and the United States. The author's conclusion is that existing "realist" or "liberal" approaches alone may exacerbate, rather than help solve, international disputes and security dilemmas and need to be replaced by an integrated approach - which he calls "convergent security"-in which hegemonic or balancing strategies using bilateral arrangements can gradually be replaced by a process of building effective multilateral institutions. The book is readable, and provides a valuable, thorough discussion in context of the security postures of each side. Completed in the early days of the George W. Bush Administration, it inevitably offers only the most general comments on the new direction of US policy, and none on post-September 11. This may not be a disadvantage, however, since it will be some time before these can be reasonably assessed (certainly the posited contrast of Bush "realism" with Clinton "Wilsonian"-ism no longer seems complete) and in the mean time the beginning of 2001 remains an appropriate point of departure. This book will be welcomed by scholars or students looking for a balanced introduction to the subject.