ISAS Working Papers

This essay attempts to answer several important questions: What is happening to the political systems in the Western world? How will America influence the state of world politics as it goes through a period of wrenching change itself? At this time, Washington seems less inclined to get involved in world politics. What would be the impact of this virtual withdrawal from world affairs on several parts of Asia, the northeast, the east, the southeast, the south and the west? How closely are economic and political trends aligned? Would economic despair among several segments of the citizenry in the West reinforce the passive approach which the politically more-developed countries have adopted towards the countries that are relatively less-advanced.