Synopses & Reviews
In the past decade the Asia-Pacific region has become a focus of international politics and military strategies. Due to Chinaandrsquo;s rising economic and military strength, North Koreaandrsquo;s nuclear tests and missile launches, tense international disputes over small island groups in the seas around Asia, and the United States pivoting a majority of its military forces to the region, the islands of the western Pacific have increasingly become the center of global attention. While the Pacific is a cur- rent hotbed of geopolitical rivalry and intense militarization, the region is also something else: a homeland to the hundreds of millions of people that inhabit it.
Based on a decade of research in the region, The Empiresandrsquo; Edge examines the tremendous damage the militarization of the Pacific has wrought on its people and environments. Furthermore, Davis details how contemporary social movements in this region are affecting global geopolitics by challenging the military use of Pacific islands and by developing a demilitarized view of security based on affinity, mutual aid, and international solidarity. Through an examination of andldquo;sacrificedandrdquo; is- lands from across the regionandmdash;including Bikini Atoll, Okinawa, Hawaiandlsquo;i, and Guamandmdash;The Empiresandrsquo; Edge makes the case that the great political contest of the twenty-first century is not about which country gets hegemony in a global system but rather about the choice be- tween perpetuating a system of international relations based on domination or pursuing a more egalitarian and cooperative future.
About the Author
Sasha Davis is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Hawaii-Hilo.