“ASIA”

ASIAN BUSINESS AIMS ASIAN LITERACY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LITERACY West-East, East-East LOOKING TO THE FUTURE HYPOTHESES “Asian business success” today is part of a political, economic and cultural response to historical trauma Asian political-economic systems challenge “the standard model”

ASIA AT NIGHT

SOURCE: GOOGLE MAPS

EARLY ROUTES…PRE-HISTORY… SCYTHIANS…ALEXANDER…IND IA…PERSIA ”SILK ROAD”… …and SEA trade/migration

TRAVELERS ACROSS THE STEPPE ~1900 BCE

Source: “Asia: More Self-Contained” FT 10 Aug 2010

National Intelligence Council (NIC): Mapping the Global Future:

Projected GDP/cap 2050 India US$19,900 China US$34,500 PriceWaterhouseCoopers “The World in 2050: Beyond the BRICs” March 2008

COMING TO GRIPS WITH ASIA TODAY The need for a multi-disciplinary approach History Politics International Relations Political Economy Economics/Trade Cultural Studies

COMING TO GRIPS WITH ASIA TODAY Challenges and questions: Rise or Rebirth? (Old traditions, New States) “Clash of civilizations”? Response to trauma: national PTSD? Globalization? Role of the state? Development and democracy? Democratic peace? “Asian values”? Problems of history “Scratches on our minds” Nationalism The colonial question

POLITICAL ECONOMY STATES & MARKETS, WEALTH & POWER AUTARCHY MERCANTILISM INTERDEPENDENCE COMMAND ECONOMIES THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE

IS THE PAST PROLOGUE? NORTHEAST ASIA: China as the “mother ship”: culture, rice SOUTHEAST ASIA Sino-Indic collision in Vietnam Indian reach Ethnic shatterbelt THE CENTRAL ASIAN NEXUS INDIA Cultural Glory, Political Inertia OLD TRADITIONS, NEW STATES Problems Of History, Problems Of Colonialism

TWO QUOTES FOR TODAY…. The 21st century has opened and will close with two puzzles about the rise of Asia. Today, the puzzle is why Asian societies, long in the doldrums, are now successful. At the century's close, by contrast, historians will want to know why Asian societies succeeded so late, taking centuries to catch up with a Europe that they had outperformed for millenniums…. Centuries of European colonial rule had progressively reduced Asian self-confidence. -- Mahbubani, TIME [T]he Asian bureaucracy, notably in China and India, remained the bastion of intellectual culture, civilization, and tradition. But it was also the inward- looking, self- satisfied complacency of Asian bureaucracy, combined with the corruption and profligacy of the ruling elites, that grossly underestimated the technological ascendancy of the West…. More than anything else, it was the humiliation caused by colonization and war that drove home the realization that Asian institutions had to change everything even down to the core values. -- “The Asian Network Economy in the 21 st Century”, by Andrew Sheng /EA_Visions_15.pdf