Before the spectacular economic catastrophes that have recently befallen the newly-emergent economies of Asia - notably those of Korea and Thailand - it was fashionable amongst economists to speak of an impending Asian century in which the Asia-Pacific region would supplant America as the centre of gravity for world affairs. Conventional wisdom held that the high growth rates enjoyed by the Asian tiger economies would continue relentlessly, even spreading within the region, while Western institutions, by contrast, would decline irreversibly.

First published in 1997, this volume reflects an attempt to put order in the place of what appears to be chaos amidst East Asia's rapid dash toward economic development. With experiences of Turkey during and after martial law, Italy during the Red Brigade, England during the `Winter of Discontent', post-Franco Spain's stumbling embrace of democracy, Poland in the beginning of the solidarity movement, South Africa in the crumbling of apartheid, China during the early student protests and Europe when the Iron Curtain was lifted, Christopher Lingle applies these ideas to modern developments in...