Arif Dirlik 
What Is In A Rim? [PDF ebook] 
Critical Perspectives On The Pacific Region Idea

In this volume, scholars question the current euphoria over the rapid growth of the Pacific rim – as an economic region and as a political ideal. They suggest that much of the discourse on the region is highly ideological, focusing on its potential for capitalist development while ignoring the limitations of such development, its human costs and consequences. This critique of the idea of a Pacific rim also seeks to redress the balance by focusing on the region in terms of human interactions.