This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides both a description and analysis of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) from the inside out. It addresses the link between economic prosperity and political stability, which treats the future of the US-Japan alliance as critical to the success of APEC's aspirations. The only significant region wide effort to address the emergence of Asia is the APEC forum, which was created in 1989 as the Cold War ended. APEC was brought into being at the initiative of small and middle-range regional powers and is focused on modest and narrowly economic goals. During the second half of the twentieth century, the projection of East Asia into the heart of the global system is matched in international significance only by two other events: the protracted Cold War and the collapse of both the western and Soviet empires.