A World of Regions

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.

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.

This fascinating book tells us a lot about the future. It expands our understanding of the interaction of regions in a global system. Peter J. Katzenstein is one of the few scholars in the world with the ability to compare Europe and Asia in the framework of U.S. power. A World of Regions draws on his considerable skills to examine culture and institutions, military power and domestic political processes. This is a big contribution.

Etel Solingen, University of California, Irvine:

In its breadth, erudition, and insightfulness this is a truly monumental work in political science (not merely international relations). Peter J. Katzenstein's carefully crafted comparative framework builds on the experiences of Germany and Japan—in Western Europe and Asia respectively—to establish that regional institutions have important effects, above and beyond the effects of globalization and internationalization. Katzenstein's favored explanation is that formal—Weberian—domestic arrangements in Germany versus informal ones in Japan shape regional politics in their respective images. The evidence for the workings of Japanese and German capitalism and culture in their respective regions is robust, convincing, comprehensive, and skillfully deployed.

Robert O. Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University:

In A World of Regions, Peter J. Katzenstein persuasively argues that 'porous regions,' historically distinctive yet open to transnational influences and embedded in an American imperium, are critical elements in the dynamics of contemporary world politics.