There are two main approaches to robust stability analysis: the input-output stability framework with scaling or multiplier, and the Lyapunov functions. Analysis methods in these two directions are usually developed independently, and the relationship between the two is not clear except for some special cases. This motivates us to study the relationship between the two approaches. The generalized performance problem refers to certain frequency-domain conditions on a transfer matrix. We prove the equivalent relationship between generalized performance and robust stability under certain assumptions. The definition of generalized performance requires the internal stability of a transfer matrix, which is not a necessity for robust stability. In view of this, we derive new frequency-domain conditions for robust stability without this requirement. Our result contains a version of the circle criterion as a special case. To tackle the generalized performance problem, we propose a version of the Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov (KYP) lemma to transform the frequency-domain conditions into linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The proposed LMI condition is then connected to the quadratic stability of an uncertain linear system. Combining the derived results gives a clear picture of the relationships between robust stability, generalized performance, quadratic stability, and KYP lemma. The connections not only unify some previous results but also extend those results to more general stability regions and types of uncertainty. In addition to robust stability analysis, we also tackle the corresponding synthesis problem, i.e. robust pole placement. The desired region for robust pole placement can be the intersection or the union of simple regions. (Simple regions are the half plane, the disk, and the outside of a disk.) One contribution of our synthesis result is that the desired region can be non-convex¡Xmost results on robust pole placement focus on convex regions only. Two examples of the longitudinal control of a combat aircraft and the attitude control of a satellite demonstrate the effectiveness of our result.