Review of a Region of Regimes: Prosperity and Plunder in the Asia-Pacific (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) by T. J. Pempel

Abstract

A Region of Regimes is an ambitious book, which seeks to provide an overarching analysis of the East Asian economic and institutional development. It examines the political economies of ten varied countries, relates them to the regional order, and covers a time span of 75 years from the end of World War Two through the Trump presidency. I expect that it will leave every reader pondering its arguments for a long time. The core of the book is an examination of regime types among the countries of Northeast and Southeast Asia. At the country level, Pempel defines ‘regimes’ as a characterization of ‘the interactions among… common political, socioeconomic, and international properties.’ (p. 2). He builds on extended traditions in the study of comparative politics, many of which he has helped to define, including theorizing on the developmental state, one-party-dominant democracies, and corporatism. He offers three main categories of regime in the region: ‘Developmental’ (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), ‘Ersatz Developmental’ (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand), and ‘Rapacious Regimes’ (the Philippines, North Korea, and Myanmar). He also devotes a chapter to China, which he categorizes as a ‘Composite’ regime that has characteristics that overlap with each of his ideal-types. To facilitate comparison among the regime types, each chapter on domestic regimes is broken down into analyses of state institutions, socioeconomic forces, and external forces, which in turn link to distinctive economic policy paradigms. He closes with a chapter on the regional order.