Asia, America, and the Transformation of Geopolitics

William H. Overholt

Nov 2007 · Cambridge University Press

About this eBook

American security and prosperity now depend on Asia. William H. Overholt offers an iconoclastic analysis of developments in each major Asian country, Asian international relations, and US foreign policy. Drawing on decades of political and business experience, he argues that obsolete Cold War attitudes tie the US increasingly to an otherwise isolated Japan and obscure the reality that a US-Chinese bicondominium now manages most Asian issues. Military priorities risk polarizing the region unnecessarily, weaken the economic relationships that engendered American preeminence, and ironically enhance Chinese influence. As a result, US influence in Asia is declining. Overholt disputes the argument that democracy promotion will lead to superior development and peace, and forecasts a new era in which Asian geopolitics could take a drastically different shape. Covering Japan, China, Russia, Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Korea, and South-East Asia, Overholt offers invaluable insights for scholars, policy-makers, business people, and general readers.

About the author

William H. Overholt holds the Asia Policy Research Chair at RAND's California headquarters and is Director of the Center. Dr Overholt was previously Joint Senior Fellow at Harvard University. After eight years at a think tank consulting on national security issues, he ran investment bank research teams, mainly in Asia, from 1980 to 2001 and served as a consultant to several major political figures in Asia. He is the author of six books, including The Rise of China (1993), which won the Mainichi News/Asian Affairs Research Center Special Book Prize.