Emerging States at Crossroads This book is open access under a CC BY NC ND license. This volume analyzes the economic social and political challenges that emerging states confront today. Notwithstanding the growing importance of the ‘emerging states’ in global affairs and governance many problems requiring immediate solutions have emerged at home largely as a consequence of the rapid economic development and associated sociopolitical changes. The middle income trap is a major economic challenge faced by emerging states. This volume regards interest coordination for technological upgrading as crucial to avoid the trap and examines how various emerging states are grappling with this challenge by fostering public private cooperation voluntary associations of market players and or social networks. Social disparity is another serious problem. It is deeply rooted in history in the emerging states such as South Africa and many Latin American countries. However income distribution is recently deteriorating even in East Asia that was once praised for its high economic growth with equity. Increasing pressure for political opening is another challenge for emerging states. This volume argues that the economic social and political problems are interwoven in the sense that the emerging states need to build political consensus in order to tackle the economic and social difficulties. Democratic institutions have not always been successful in this respect. Keiichi Tsunekawa is Visiting Professor of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and Yasuyuki Todo is Professor of Economics Waseda University 1 Emerging Challenges for Emerging States(Keiichi Tsunekawa and Yasuyuki Todo) Part I Middle income Trap and Beyond 2 Responses to the Middle income Trap in China Malaysia and Thailand(Akira Suehiro) 3 The Middle income Trap in the ASEAN 4 Countries from the Trade Structure Viewpoint(Satoru Kumagai) 4 Emerging States in Latin America: How and Why They Differ from Their Asian Counterparts(Keiichi Tsunekawa) 5 Economic and Political Networks and Firm Openness: Evidence from Indonesia(Daichi Shimamoto and Yasuyuki Todo) 6 Industrial Technology Upgrading and Innovation Policies: A Comparison of Taiwan and Thailand (Patarapong Intarakumnerd and Meng chun Liu) 7 Changing Resource based Manufacturing Industry: The Case of the Rubber Industry in Malaysia and Thailand(Motoko Kawano) 8 Marketing Risks and Standards Compliance: Challenges in Accessing the Global Market for High value Agricultural and Aquacultural Industries(Aya Suzuki and Vu Hoang Nam) Part II Social and Political Dimensions 9 How Nations Resurge: Overcoming Historical Inequality in South Africa(Yoichi Mine) 10 Education Development and Politics in South Korea(Noriyo Isozaki) 11 Politics of Inequality in Indonesia: Does Democracy Matter (Koichi Kawamura) 12 Civil Military Relations in an Emerging State: A Perspective from Indonesia’s Democratic Consolidation (Jun Honna) 13 Democratization and the Military in Thailand(Yoshifumi Tamada) Index