Asia has long been an ideological battleground between capitalism and communism, between nationalism and Westernisation and between the nation-state and globalization. This book is a history of the Asian region from 1945 to the present day which delineates the various ideological battles over Asia's development. 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 * Asia in the era of globalisation Broad in sweep and rich in theory and empirical detail, this is an essential account of the growth of 'Asian miracle' and its turbulent position in the global economy of the twenty-first century.