The International Politics of Asia-Pacific, 1945-1995

by Michael Yahuda

This fully updated and revised edition of Michael Yahuda's extremely successful textbook introduces students to the international politics of the Asia Pacific region since 1945. Divided into three parts, the first presents a chronological overview of developments since 1945, the new second part looks at the post-cold war period, while the third focuses on the policies of the US, the USSR/Russia, China and Japan in the region. Yahuda analyses politics in terms of global, regional, and local trends, combining narrative with analysis. This new edition
* analysis of the economic crisis and the potential implications worldwide of East Asian economic recovery
* a chapter on the emergence of East Asia as a significant force in world affairs, focusing on the role of lesser powers such as Indonesia and Malaysia
* chapters considering prospects post-2000 and competing frameworks for security in the wake of nuclear tension between India and Pakistan
* the strengths and weaknesses of US hegemony in the new world order.

Genres: International Relations, Political Science, Politics, Nonfiction

308 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 1996

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The International Politics of the Asia Pacific is a great overview of the post-World War II state of the Pacific Asian states and how they weathered the Cold war and Post cold war. This is the second edition which covers into the early 2000’s and looks at the pivot form a bipolar world to one of regional powers where China and Japan vie for power against the US and are not always strategically aligned. The book generally follows the major players, China, Japan, USSR, United States and ASEAN countries during the cold war and Japan, United States and China in the post cold war. There is thoughtful analysis here and while it can get repetitive when the same events are covered from a different country it does provide a great overview if you are not well versed in the area. It is sort of a classic textbook on this subject that does not get too academic and provides a lot of great information.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Textbook for my Intro to Asia class. Very comprehensive history, mostly context with some (potentially inadvertent) analysis. Like other reviewers said, it's fairly repetitive, but I think it may have been structured not to be read as a whole (though we did throughout the class) but so that specific chapters could be assigned to give context on particular areas or issues. Clear writing and great history review, just incredibly long and somewhat repetitive if multiple chapters are being read at once.

[Sambhavna Biswas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book but gets really dry midway.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much try contents and quite repetitive. Otherwise good for referencing.

[Diana Frumosu · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the worst structured book I had to read for university. The analysis it makes is interesting, but lots of things are repeated again and again and same topics are discussed in different parts of the book in the same way, with the same words.

[Declan Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly engaging description of historical events in the Asia-Pacific. I didn't totally agree with the author's conclusions, but I think they were well-thought-out. Yahuda keeps IR jargon to a minimum. I'd recommend it for somebody interested in the topic.

[Nanto]

perasaan berapa bab dah kebaca deh. kudu bikin rak half-read neh!