Two main issues dominate the debates surrounding the Pacific region today: prosperity and peace. Why have parts of the Asian/Pacific side grown so quickly while other parts of the Pacific, much of Latin America, Africa and other areas have not? How have these changes altered the international system of security? This volume, part of the series "The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science", offers an in-depth examination of these debates, as well as providing a better understanding of the changes taking place within the region and giving rise to new ways of integrating classic variables into arguments that permit deeper analysis.