Industrialization is understood as the process of turning a country with a backward economy into a modern industrialized country with advanced technology and techniques and high labor productivity in the national economic sectors.

Over the past two centuries, the first wave of industrialization in Europe and the United States and recent experiences of powerful South Asian countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and India has shown a transformation of industrialization. The pathways to industrialization in these countries do not seem to be completely the same. Due to historical conditions and starting point, each country will select a different model. The industrialization in these countries achieves successes in terms of economic development but also puts impacts on social life and environment. 

The book provides an overview of the past, the present, and the future of industrialization; the pathways to industrialization development learned from Asia’s success by going beyond pure “modeling”, the industrialization path of China and Indonesia, or industrialization policy in Latin America; the need and challenges for industrialization in terms of structural change, rising unemployment, the development of industrialization policy, and challenges on environmental sustainability and climate change. Also, the book  analyzes circumstances and challenges of developing countries in the industrialization period and presents ideas on new models to have appropriate industrialization policy in the 21st century.

The book is divided into seven chapters: Introduction, The need and challenge for industrialization; Pathways to industrialization development: The past, the present, and the future; Climate change and sustainability; Challenges for industrialization policy; and Conclusion./.