ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the theme of globalization and its impact on the conduct of international relations and the processes of domestic politics. It explores why domestic actors can no longer assume an insular political environment as they have in the past. The end of the Cold War altered the fundamental structures of the East Asian regional economy and produced profound alterations in states’ domestic politics and foreign policies. The stages of globalization impacted Asian domestic politics in two ways. First, it empowered specific domestic actors and weakened others. Second, globalization shaped the contours of democracy as East Asian countries experienced democratic transition and consolidation. One of the major political developments within East Asian countries during the 1980s and 1990s consisted of increased political pluralism and democracy. With the approaching end of the Cold War and the open door policy of People’s Republic of China, East Asian states increasingly developed a more diversified foreign policy.
