Giovanni Arrighi is professor of Sociology at The John Hopkins University, Baltimore. His latest books are The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Out Times (1994) and Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System (1999, with Beverly J Silver).

Takeshi Hamashita is Professor of History at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University and the Institute of Oriental Culture, Tokyo University. He is co-author of the six volume Japanese work, Maritime Asia (2001) and numerous works on the political economy of East Asia.

Mark Selden is Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University and Professional Associate, East Asia Program, Cornell University. His recent books include, Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance (with Elizabeth J Perry) and Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power (with Laura Hein).