The economic pivot in a political context

The Economic Pivot in a Political Context, by Charles Wolf, Jr., explains how iron curtains have been replaced by porous ones in the post-cold war era. New countries, multilateral organizations, regional and subregional groups, multinational corporations, international business alliances, and financial networks have made the global arena ever more complex. As seen in the cases of Haiti, Iraq, and Chechnya, rapid change and a less predictable atmosphere generate an ever-present threat of volatility.

Openness to global, continuous flows of information, trade, capital, technology, and people continues to blur our borders. Simultaneously, a postmodern preoccupation with domestic, social, political, and economic affairs is taking shape.

Charles Wolf's most probing essays, drawn from publications as diverse as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Public Interest, The National Interest, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, appear in this volume. The chapters span several subjects: economic interaction with politics, security, and the changing global environment; economics and military power; the economies of Japan and China; and the Russian and Ukrainian economies.

The volume is also graced with a concise, up-to-date prologue. In each of the subjects, policy issues, and interactions addressed in the book, Wolf focuses on a specific economic fact, theory, or assumption - "the pivot" - thereafter elaborating and relating it to the applicable political context. His chapters reflect a mood of moderate optimism about the international economy and the United States' position in world affairs.