Asia has been an ideological battleground between capitalism and communism, between nationalism and Westernization and between the nation-state and globalization. This book is a history of the Asian region from 1945 to 2003, which delineates the various ideological battles over Asia's development. The subjects covered include: theories of development; decolonization; US political and economic intervention; the effects of communism; the end of the Cold War; the rise of neo-liberalism; Asia after the crisis; and Asia in the era of globalization. Broad in sweep and rich in theory and empirical detail, this study gives an account of the growth of the "Asian miracle" and its turbulent position in the global economy of the 21st century.