Observing the dramatic shift in world politics since the end of the Cold War, Peter J. Katzenstein argues that regions have become critical to contemporary world politics. This view is in stark contrast to those who focus on the purportedly stubborn persistence of the nation-state or the inevitable march of globalization. In detailed studies of technology and foreign investment, domestic and international security, and cultural diplomacy and popular culture, Katzenstein examines the changing regional dynamics of Europe and Asia, which are linked to the United States through Germany and Japan.

Regions, Katzenstein contends, are interacting closely with an American imperium that combines territorial and non-territorial powers. Katzenstein argues that globalization and internationalization create open or porous regions. Regions may provide solutions to the contradictions between states and markets, security and insecurity, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Embedded in the American imperium, regions are now central to world politics.

PrefaceChapter 1. American Power in World Politics
America and Regions
Globalization and Internationalization
Porous Regional Orders
Cases and PerspectivesChapter 2. Regional Orders
Regional Politics, Present at the Creation
Ethnic Capitalism in Asian Market Networks
Law and Politics in a European PolityChapter 3. Regional Identities
Regional Identities in Asia and Europe
East and West
Germany and JapanChapter 4. Regional Orders in Economy and Security
Technology and Production Networks in Asia and Europe
External and Internal Security in Europe and Asia
Regional Orders in Asia and EuropeChapter 5. Porous Regions and Culture
Cultural Diplomacy of Japan and Germany
Popular Culture in Asia and Europe
A Very Distant World-Closed Regions in the 1930sChapter 6. Linking Regions and Imperium
Connecting to the Center-Germany and Japan in the American Imperium
Connecting to the Periphery-Subregionalism in Europe and Asia
Two-Way AmericanizationChapter 7. The American Imperium in a World of Regions
American Imperium
Porous Regions in Europe and Asia
The Americas
Extending the Argument to South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East
Predicaments and Possibilities of ImperiumBibliography
Index

Peter J. Katzenstein is Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. His many books include Cultural Norms and National Security: Police and Military in Postwar Japan; Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe; Corporatism and Change: Austria, Switzerland, and the Politics of Industry; Network Power: Japan and Asia; and Tamed Power: Germany in Europe; all from Cornell.