In his latest book, Peter Ferdinand discusses the increasing economic integration of the Pacific Asian region as well as its impact on global affairs. Kent Deng is impressed by the breadth of the book’s coverage and the way it rethinks the once narrowly conceived boundaries of Asia

Deng, Kent

Ferdinand, Peter

English

LSE Research Online

blo gs.lse.ac.ukhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/10/16/book-review-governance-in-pacific-asia-po litical-economy-and-development-from-japan-to-burma/Book Review: Governance in Pacific Asia: Political Economyand Development from Japan to Burmaby blog adminOctober 16, 2012In his latest book, Peter Ferdinand discusses the increasing economic integration of thePacific Asian region as well as its impact on global affairs. Kent Deng is impressed by thebreadth of the book’s coverage and the way it rethinks the once narrowly conceivedboundaries of Asia. Governance in Pacif ic Asia: Polit ical Economy and Developmentfrom Japan to Burma. Peter Ferdinand. Continuum. February 2012.Find this book:   The notion of  Asia has been drastically broadened since the rise of  theAssociation of  Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China and India sincethe later part of  the 20th century. Prior to this, Asia and more specif ically,East Asia claimed a prominent share of  the development literature.However, the term Asia and East Asia had become nearly synonymouswith Japan and the f our ‘t iger-economies’ – South Korea, Taiwan, HongKong and Singapore. This seemed conceptually convenient not onlybecause they are all Asian but also ‘Conf ucian’ and capitalist. Thisgrouping of  countries persisted despite the f act that they are allscattered of f -shore or along sea coasts, and their aggregate populationconstitutes a mere minority in Asia.Peter Ferdinand’s Governance of Pacific Asia  has come at a t ime wherethere is a great need f or a f resh vision on the continent’s growth and development in light of  amore inclusive understanding of  what constitutes ‘Asia’. To a great extent, that Asia which weare now f acing is qualif ied as a mini world: It has most of  the world’s main religions (if  onestretches the def init ion): Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Conf ucianism; it contains allsorts of  localised resources endowments: coal deposits in China, t imber supply in SoutheastAsia, and high-skilled workers in Hong Kong and Singapore; it has many parallel modes of  production f romhunting and gathering in tropical jungles, ice-f arming on terraced paddies to dust- f ree production lines f orsuper-f ast computer chips; it also has the entire line of  evolution of  services f rom street-corner f oodstands to bullet trains and posh hotels in neon- lit skyscrapers.It is a f ormidable challenge f or any individual to make a good sense out of  such a collage of  extremes. Inthis regard, Ferdinand’s book is very t imely. In many ways, his book serves as a mini-encyclopaedia. Hetackles a breathtakingly wide spectrum of  18 polit ical units on the western side of  the Pacif ic: f rom birthrates to internet, literacy to pollution, urbanisation to inequality, import substitution to export-orientedindustrialisation, militocracy to democracy, and f rom regionalism to globalisation. Ferdinand sets ageographical boundary at the Malaysian state of  Malacca; everything else inside that boundary serves as alegit imate target f or scrutiny.But such a huge matrix of  topics does not prevent the book f rom data-richness. Polit ical units arepurposely lined up f or a systematic comparison with their growth rates, law and order, economic openness,income distribution, government inputs, polit ical f reedom and rights, corruption, and so f orth. In addition, awide range of  works have been consulted f or a comprehensive survey which leads to a pan-Asian mega-narrative.The main theme of  the book is change in Asia. Although changes and experiments in post-war Asia havenot all been posit ive and Pareto optimal, namely of f icial corruption (Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, andcontemporary China), racial discrimination (Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia), bloodshed of  civil wars(Vietnam and Cambodia), polit ical violence, poverty and starvation (Mao’s China and North Korea), therehas been a clearly identif iable mainstream towards polit ical, social and economic modernity. The author alsoindicates, implicit ly at least, that all changes have been predominantly decided by a tiny minority, of ten onthe top, in Asian society.Rightly, in the context of  changes in Asia, the author points out the “China Factor” which has beenupsetting the old equilibrium in post-war Asia. Granted China was once the regional hegemon (until circa1800) and China has just resumed its posit ion as the largest economy inside Asia, is Asia going to bemoulded by another tribute system with China on the top? Such speculations have produced all sorts ofscenarios in light of  the current global rush f or territory-cum-resources. China’s high input productionsystem and its inevitable outward search f or resources have triggered a string of , of ten re-emptive,actions f rom its Asian neighbours including Japan,Vietnam and the Philippines. Such quarrels have madeChina more or less f riendless in the Pacif ic Rim.The author keeps a close eye on the issue of  governance as the book tit le suggests: domestic governanceof  society and the economy inside nation-states, international governance between states in Asia (e.g.ASEAN + 3, AFTA) and beyond (e.g. APEC, TWO). More interestingly, the author identif ies the dif f erencebetween “governance f or the sake of  it” (to maintain legit imacy, polit ical and ideological stability) and“governance f or something greater” (to purse economic growth and social development). Af ter an in-depthdiscussion of  a “predatory state” and a “developmental state”, an array of  good practices has also beensingled out which, predictably, includes the usual suspect of  “polit ical control f or economic ef f iciency.”The greatest contribution of  this book is to revisit the question of  what has made Asia ‘Asian’ and why. Ourconventional wisdom is to have an international benchmark (of ten based on Western Europe and NorthAmerica) and a long checklist, anything missing in Asia f rom that list is considered Asian. This book tells usthat in f act cultural, polit ical and economic dif f erences inside Asia are of ten much greater than those insidethe Western world. Besides, the legacy of  western colonisation, a f ate only Thailand and China managed toavoid, has remained highly visible in many parts of  Asia, and so is the American presence in the Pacif ic.Consequently, the concept of  ‘Asia’, or the concept of  ‘something Asian’, has remained as elusive as ever.If  so, what really matters f or us is Asian’s past track record and current trajectory of  growth andgovernance.The only thing that has remained tacit is the horror of  the Second World War that has scarred Asiapermanently, which in turn determines to a great extent how Asian countries behave today. What has beenhaunting Asia is Japan’s war atrocit ies when its Imperial armed f orces swept most part of  the Pacif ic Asia inthe name of  ‘Asia f or Asians’ and the ‘Great East Asian Sphere of  Co-prosperity’. It will be naïve to assumethat t ime has already healed that wound. Here, what separates Asia and the West is that much of  Asia seesJapan as a war villain and has not f orgiven its war crimes while the West sees Japan as a war victim due toHiroshima and Nagasaki and has thus pardoned it. This has made Japan perpetually double f aced whendealing with the rest of  Asia and the West. That point has unf ortunately not been brought up by Ferdinand,but this is only a minor def ect.On balance, this is a very readable book f or those inside and outside academia who desire a better senseof  the main players and f actors that will continue to shape Asia as the new powerhouse of  the worldeconomy.——————————————————————————————-Dr. Kent Deng is Reader in Economic History at the LSE and FRHistS. He teaches economic changes,growth and development in East and Southeast Asia f rom circa 1500 to the present day. He publisheswidely on China’s very long-term history over two millennia, including the literati, peasantry, merchants,artisans, demography, currencies, property rights, taxation, knowledge transf er, market expansion, ref ormsand state governance. His most recent book, China’s Political Economy in Modern Times: Changes andEconomic Consequences, 1800–2000 (Routledge, 2011) deals with state-building and its economicconsequences. Read more reviews by Kent.Related posts:1. Book Review: Globalization and Economic Nationalism in Asia (15.1)2. Book Review: The Polit ical Economy of  Aid in Palestine: Relief  f rom Conf lict or DevelopmentDelayed? (14.1)3. Book Review: The Force of  Obedience: The Polit ical Economy of  Repression in Tunisia (9.8)4. Book Review: Is China Buying the World? (9.6)5. Book Review: Modern Women in China and Japan: Gender, Feminism and Global Modernity Betweenthe Wars (9.5)

Book Review: governance in pacific Asia: political economy and development from Japan to Burma

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