First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Initial excitement in the West over the reform of Soviet communism under Gorbachev and then euphoria over the disintegration of the USSR have now been replaced by concern, controversy, and sometimes despair over prospects for democracy and a marlcet economy in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Despair is reflected in the popular joke that the transition from a communist centrally planned economy to a capitalist market economy is like the transition from fiSh soup. to an aquarium. Only time will tell if the aquarium analogy holds water. Meanwhile, as policy makers in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union grapple with strategies, tactics, and details, scholars and policy advisors continue to debate questions of sequence, timing, and appropriate models.

This report analyzes the potential for increased economic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, and the importance of such a relationship to each country, by examining both the economic and the political factors influencing trade and investment. Historically, economic relations between the two countries have been limited. Chances for improvement seem to depend on Japan's willingness to invest in the development of resources in Siberia and the Soviet Far East, which in turn hinges on the resolution of long-standing territorial disputes. Perhaps of more immediate value would be Japan's ability to help the Soviet Union respond to demands for consumer goods and improve manufacturing efficiency and quality control. Obstacles in these areas include the Soviet Union's difficulties in paying for Japanese goods and technology and constraints resulting from Japan's acceptance of U.S. leadership in mandating East-West trade. The author concludes that improved economic relations between the Soviet Union and Japan are most likely to be realized gradually on a long-term basis.

First published in 2005. Some of the most important of the world's problems today concern affairs in Asia, and the relations between Asia and the West. To deal adequately with these problems it is necessary not only to master their more obvious elements as they present themselves today, but to go to their historical roots. In particular it is necessary to study the economic history of modern Asian society. In London the School of Oriental and African Studies, with the generous assistance of the Ford Foundation, began in 1959 a research programme on the economic history of East and South-East Asia. As part of this programme an international study group, composed of scholars from America, Europe and Asia, was held at the School in July 1961. This volume contains a selection of the papers presented to the study group.

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.