Abstract

Echoing Andre Gunder Frank’s (1998) calling for a non-Eurocentric analysis and drawing upon the work of Giovanni Arrighi (2007) and Immanuel Wallerstein (2005), this chapter will trace the historical development of East Asia in relation to the transformation of the world-system. It will first examine East Asia as the center of the world before 1800. Then it will examine the de-centering and the re-centering of East Asia over the past two centuries.