Description
Book SynopsisBeginning where Huntington''s Clash of Civilizations ends, Fire on the Rim is a call to action, not fatalism; to cultural dialogue, not militancy. However, in rejecting the entrenched pessimism of cultural realists such as Huntington and Kaplan, William Thornton is equally careful to avoid the teleological optimism of a Francis Fukuyama, Thomas Friedman, or even an Anthony Giddens. He argues that the United States is now paying, in terms of ''blowback,'' a long-term price for short-term Cold War and subsequent globalist strategiesmistakes that were chosen, not fated. Yet mending these errors will require nothing less than a paradigm shift in geopolitical (post-New World Order) and geoeconomic (post-neoliberal) thought. Fire instantiates this shift within the specific context of the Pacific Rim. In defiance of ideological convention, it combines a call for social justice, cultural difference, and environmental sustainability with a sober recognition of the need for continued balance of power geopolitics, soft and hard. The author''s iconoclastic melding of idealist and realist elements will provoke the Right and Left alike, but his call for moral realism is a vital step toward an Asia policy fit for the twenty-first century.
Trade ReviewA fascinating and engaged polemic that addresses issues of East Asian politics, especially as they involve the United States. Examining international politics through the optic of cultural relations, the author uses East Asia to develop notions of 'moral realism,' 'cultural realism,' and 'postmodern realism' that are more post-western than anti-western. In this way, he regains a critical edge often lost in current cultural studies scholarship. -- William Callahan, University of Durham
A powerful work as well as a masterful polemic against received interpretations of contemporary East and Southeast Asia. This is a powerhouse of a book that will undoubtedly open a sorely needed debate on the state of the world. -- Jonathan Friedman, directeur d'études, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris; professor of social anthropology, Lund University
A sustained, eloquent, and combative critique of realism, neorealism, reactionary modernization, and neoliberal globalization. Fire on the Rim will no doubt make its mark on the debates about cultural and civilizational conflicts that are bound to increase and deepen as globalization continues. * International Studies Review *
Fire on the Rim is a fascinating book, grounded in a great deal of knowledge as well as insight. Thornton's contribution to a nuanced understanding of Asian development is timely and important. The book cares about its topic, avoids the glamorous pitfalls of meta-theoretical answers to complex questions, and deserves to be read by policy-makers as well as an academic public. * Theory, Culture & Society *
A compelling blend of astute political analysis based on a detailed understanding of different political regimes and processes in Asia. Fire on the Rim should be read by everybody who has a serious concern with democracy and social justice as necessary preconditions of sustainable economic development. -- Bryan Turner, University of Cambridge
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: The Geopolitics of "Asian Values" Chapter 2 The Postmodernization of Asian Values Chapter 3 Japanese Postmodernism and the New "Japan Problem" Chapter 4 Reactionary Globalization: Local, Regional, and Global Implications of the New "Japan Problem" Chapter 6 The "Other" Korea: An Oppositional Postmodernism Chapter 7 Korea and the Asian Values Debate Chapter 8 Selling Democratic Teleology: China as Reverse Domino Chapter 9 Getting Past Huntington and Fukuyama: Cultural Realism in East/West Power Politics Chapter 11 Back to Basics: Human Rights and Power Politics in the New Moral Realism Chapter 13 Conclusion: A Concert of "Others"
