"Separated by an ocean, which with the advance of navigation grows narrower each year, are Japan and Canada, two countries which, in history, ideals, civilization, and culture, have nothing in common. One is a group of comparatively small islands off the Coast of Asia, limited in area, the other occupies almost half ot the Continent of North America. The inhabitants of the former belong to the Mongolian, those of the latter to the Caucasian race. One has an ancient civilzation which begins before the dawn of human history, the other's history goes back only a few centuries. One has the culture and the characteristics of the Orient, the other those of the Occident. To a casual observer, these countries have nothing in common. [...]" --

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

The official monthly record of United States foreign policy.

Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.

First published in 1993.This book examines the relationships between the economic, political and strategic expansion of a country, and its tendency towards conflict and war. The authors use the example of Japan to demonstrate that it is uneven economic development and the search for basic resources and markets that often set the stage for war and international conflict. Thus the pursuit of legitimate national goals - for example the expansion of a nation's industrial base - may put it into competitive, poten­tially conflicting relationships with countries with similar objectives. The names of the authors will attract all International Relations scholars who will know Choucri and North's Nations in Conflict and will have been awaiting the outcome of their fifteen years of research on Japan. The book is also invaluable reading for advanced undergraduate and postgrad­uate students of Japan and other Asian area studies, political economy and political science.