Challenging the conventional view that globalization embodies a new and inexorable process, this book analyzes the political foundations and choices involved in contemporary arrangements in the world. Rather than treating politics as contention for control over an unforeseeable future, the book explains the background by which the world has arrived at its present state. Thus, the author presents a view that emphasizes continuity with the past while still acknowledging what is new in the present. Invoking many examples throughout, the author bolsters the theoretical analysis in an extended case study of Malaysia.