We live in a world increasingly shaped by the forces of globalization or interdependence as all the world's countries and individuals, in varying degrees and ways, are drawn into an ever more complex economic, political, technological, ethical, communications, transportation, and cultural web....

Before the current international economic crisis, Asian policymakers deferred to their Western counterparts. The enormous blunders since committed by the US and Europe mean deference has been replaced by disquiet. Asia's concern is that the world will soon come to grief if both the US and Europe...