SUMMARY
In order to understand the processes related to integration and development in the East Asian and Latin American societies this paper attempts to place those processes in the larger context of cycles of world accumulation. Many of the societies in East Asia, Latin America, and the South, in general, were integrated into the world economy during previous cycles of hegemony and accumulation. However, in the American cycle, and particularly at the height of this cycle, East Asia was developed while most of Latin America continued to experience truncated development. How do we understand these different trajectories? We argue that the best way to understand the different processes of integration and development in these two regions during the current historical period of global capitalist accumulation is to see them all as housed in a transition period between the waning American cycle of hegemony in the world economy and a new, as yet undefined cycle. We will look at the role that the East Asian region and its societies are playing in the transition to the next cycle, as well as analyze why these societies should not be viewed as successful products of the "modernization process," as proponents of that theory argue. The "success" of these societies is rooted in their historical entry point and the geopolitical importance to the United States of the region in which they were housed, and is not necessarily repeatable by other Third World societies such as those in Latin America.