ABSTRACT
East Asia has emerged as a dominant and influential region, in ways and to a degree that is little understood. The region is famous for its economic booms, in which countries forced to restructure and reorient themselves have in the process achieved enormous and rapid growth. The intersection of government leadership and investment, nationwide collaboration within the business community and an enviable level of government, business and academic interaction has produced the kind of cooperation that allows the country to participate in high-intensity and expensive research and development. The development of new economy products and services has perhaps benefitted most from the expansion of East Asian consumer markets. East Asia’s international entanglements are complicated by internal political dynamics. East Asia’s engagement with the world has been accelerated by climate change and the intensive evidence of global interconnectedness.
