Overview

Since the mid-1990s, Japan's regional economic strategy has transformed. Once characterized by bilateralism, informality, and neomercantilism, Japanese policy has shifted to a new liberal strategy emphasizing regional institution building and rule setting. As two major global powers, China and the United States, wrestle over economic advantages, Japan currently occupies a pivotal position capable of tipping the geoeconomic balance in the region. Japan's New Regional Reality offers a comprehensive analysis of Japan's geoeconomic strategy that reveals the country's role in shaping regional economic order in the Asia-Pacific. Saori N. Katada explains Japanese foreign economic policy in light of both international and domestic dynamics. She points out the hurdles to implementing a state-led liberal strategy, detailing how domestic political and institutional changes have been much slower and stickier than the changing regional economics. Katada highlights state-market relations and shows how big businesses have responded to the country's interventionist policies. The book covers a wide range of economic issues including trade, investment, finance, currency, and foreign aid. Japan's New Regional Reality is a meticulously researched study of the dynamics that have contributed to economic and political realities in the Asia-Pacific today, with significant implications for future regional trends.

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9780231190732

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Reviews

This book provides a much needed analysis of changes in Japan's regional economic strategy. In giving agency to the Japanese state, Saori N. Katada makes a major contribution to our understanding not just of contemporary Japan, but of the region as a whole and the potential shape of the world order to come. -- Saadia Pekkanen, University of Washington

This book provides a much-needed analysis of changes in Japan's regional economic strategy. In giving agency to the Japanese state, Katada makes a major contribution to our understanding not just of contemporary Japan, but of the region as a whole and the potential shape of the world order to come. -- Saadia Pekkanen, editor of <i>Asian Designs: Governance in the Contemporary World Order</i> At a time when the future of Asia is narrowly seen through the prism of U.S.-China great power competition, Katada persuasively demonstrates that Japan's quiet transformation-less mercantilist, more champion of liberalism-will shape the regional order. Her command of the nuanced evolution of Japan's foreign economic policy across diverse tracks-trade and investment, finance, and development aid-is unparalleled. Essential reading for anyone interested in Asian geoeconomics. -- Mireya Solis, author of <i>Dilemmas of a Trading Nation: Japan and the United States in the Evolving Asia-Pacific Order</i> This important book provides a convincing account of the remarkable shift by Japan to lead regional initiatives for liberal economic policy. Katada melds theory and empirical tests to explain how state-led liberalism arose to replace mercantilist industrial policies with a new era of Japanese foreign economic policy. Looking inside domestic decision-making processes and reflecting on the challenge of China's growing strength, the book offers a comprehensive synthesis. -- Christina L. Davis, author of <i>Why Adjudicate?: Enforcing Trade Rules in the WTO</i>

This important book provides a convincing account of the remarkable shift by Japan to lead regional initiatives for liberal economic policy. Katada melds theory and empirical tests to explain how state-led liberalism arose to replace mercantilist industrial policies with a new era of Japanese foreign economic policy. Looking inside domestic decision-making processes and reflecting on the challenge of China's growing strength, the book offers a comprehensive synthesis. -- Christina L. Davis, author of <i>Why Adjudicate?: Enforcing Trade Rules in the WTO</i> At a time when the future of Asia is narrowly seen through the prism of U.S.-China great power competition, Saori Katada persuasively demonstrates that Japan's quiet transformation -less mercantilist more champion of liberalism- will shape the regional order. Katada's command of the nuanced evolution of Japan's foreign economic policy across diverse tracks - trade and investment, finance, and development aid, is unparalleled. Essential reading for anyone interested in Asian geoeconomics. -- Mireya Solis, author of <i>Dilemmas of a Trading Nation: Japan and the United States in the Evolving Asia-Pacific Order</i> This book provides a much needed analysis of changes in Japan's regional economic strategy. In giving agency to the Japanese state, Saori N. Katada makes a major contribution to our understanding not just of contemporary Japan, but of the region as a whole and the potential shape of the world order to come. -- Saadia Pekkanen, University of Washington

Author Information

Saori N. Katada is professor of international relations at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Banking on Stability: Japan and the Cross-Pacific Dynamics of International Financial Crisis Management (2001) and coauthor of The BRICS and Collective Financial Statecraft (2017) and Taming Japan’s Deflation: The Debate Over Unconventional Monetary Policy (2018), among other works.

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