Books in the Politics in Asia series

This brilliantly argued book taps into a great deal of news interest in North Korea at the moment in the wake of recent hostility against Japan.

Investigating the political consequences of the mass killings in Indonesia in 1965 to 1966 upon public life, the author highlights the historical specificities of the violence and comparable incidents of identity politics.

Analyses electioneering activities in nine Asian countries in terms of popular cultural practices, ranging from updated traditional cultures to mimicry and caricatures of television dramas. In presenting political election as an expression of popular culture, this book portrays electoral behaviour as a meaningful cultural practice.

Centering on the primary issues facing Taiwan, China and the US, the book analyses Taiwan's need to prevent China's rule suffocating their cherished democracy.

This book provides a detailed analysis of the state of democracy in countries across East Asia, and shows how each is different and distinctive, whilst simultaneously drawing out important similarities. Further, it provides up to date analysis of political changes in the region relating to the processes of democratization, and, in some cases, to the ongoing quest for democracy. Critically examining the current state of political development in the region, the chapters explore the issues and problems that challenge the region¿s governments in terms of democratic transition, democratic consolidation, democratic improvement and good governance.

A study of US-North Korean interaction using the security dilemma as a conceptual frame of analysis is thus not only hugely topical, but also particularly relevant for the 21st century on theoretical as well as empirical grounds. Is there the prospect of a security dilemma contagion if North Korea acquire nuclear weapons capability leading to an Asia Pacific wide nuclear arms race? This book examines this contentious issue in-depth and explores the difficult choices policymakers face as a result of the uncertainty in international politics.

A study of US-North Korean interaction using the security dilemma as a conceptual frame of analysis is thus not only hugely topical, but also particularly relevant for the 21st century on theoretical as well as empirical grounds. Is there the prospect of a security dilemma contagion if North Korea acquire nuclear weapons capability leading to an Asia Pacific wide nuclear arms race? This book examines this contentious issue in-depth and explores the difficult choices policymakers face as a result of the uncertainty in international politics.

This book maps the growth of Chinäs political, economic, and military capabilities and its impact on the security order in Asia over the coming decades. While updating the emerging power dimensions and prevailing discourse, it provides a nuanced analysis of whether the growth of Chinese power is resulting in Beijing becoming more assertive, or even aggressive, in its behavior and pursuit of national interests, of how the key Asian countries are perceiving and reacting to the growth of Chinäs power and how US rebalancing would play out in the context of Beijing¿s political, economic, and military power.

As China has become a net importer of energy, it has increasingly come up against the US in competition for the energy of a third state. Examining this triangular relationship, this book includes case studies on China's energy relationship with countries including Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Anola, Nigeria, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Iran, Sudan and Venezuela, and makes a huge contribution to the literature in fields such as US-China relations, international relations, Chinese foreign policy and global energy geopolitics.

Using the lens of the "commons" this book highlights the key development interests and challenges that members of ASEAN collectively recognize. The concept of "regional commons" involves three dimensions: the management of common resources; cooperation in the production of common goods; and cooperation in overcoming common challenges. Contributors to the collection discuss the ways in which the Plus Three arrangements that ASEAN has with China, Japan and South Korea address or complicate these three dimensions.

This volume is a collection of papers written by nationals or former nationals of the respective country in ASEAN and Northeast Asia. It offers an insider¿s point of view of the 10 ASEAN states, China, Japan and South Korea on regional community building. Each author has made a deliberate effort to introduce and survey the developmental challenges and experiences of his or her country from a historical perspective. All authors, without exception, have emphasized the importance and advantages in staying with ASEAN or linking up with ASEAN by China, Japan and South Korea in political-security, economic and socio-cultural terms.

What are these key foreign policy adjustments? Where and how have these occurred in Chinese diplomacy? And what are the reasons or drivers that inform these changes? This book seeks to capture these changes. Featuring contributions from academics, think-tank intellectuals and policy practitioners, all engaged in the compelling business of China-watching, the book aims to shed more light on the calibrations that have animated Chinäs diplomacy under Xi, a leader who by most accounts is considered the most powerful Chinese numero uno since Deng Xiaoping.

Singapore¿s tough stance on human rights, however, does not negate the long and persistent existence of a human rights society that exists almost unknown to the world. The focus of this book is on independent activists and writers, documenting this tradition in Singapore society that has a legacy of defending universal values of individual human rights. It uncovers their discourses, main contentions, campaigns, survival strategies, prominent activists and their untold stories during Singapore¿s first 50 years of independence.

This book maps the growth of Chinäs political, economic, and military capabilities and its impact on the security order in Asia over the coming decades. While updating the emerging power dimensions and prevailing discourse, it provides a nuanced analysis of whether the growth of Chinese power is resulting in Beijing becoming more assertive, or even aggressive, in its behavior and pursuit of national interests, of how the key Asian countries are perceiving and reacting to the growth of Chinäs power and how US rebalancing would play out in the context of Beijing¿s political, economic, and military power.

This book demonstrates how careful examinations of current developments in East Asia indicate a need for major expansion of our understandings of democracy and democratization, and challenges the traditional way in which political regimes are conceived and labelled. It shows from Asian experiences that democracy and its precursors come in more forms than most liberals have yet imagined. In reviewing the experiences of states across East Asia, this book shows that actual democracies and ostensible democratizations in Asia are less like those in the West than the surprisingly consensual standard political science of democratization suggests.

This book provides new arguments on Chinäs rise and the transformation of East Asia and analyzes the foreign policy behavior of the regional states and relations among them. In doing so, the contributors show why and how China is rising, and in turn, the regional structures or institutions that are emerging as dominant in East Asia. Presenting strategic, political, economic and historical perspectives on Chinäs changing role in the region and the development of regionalism, Chinäs Rise and Regional Integration in East Asia will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics, Asian politics, international relations and regionalism.

Much writing on politics in Asia has been devoted to the discussion of democracy and democratisation generally, or on political parties. This book, on the other hand, focuses on parliaments, considering, for key countries of East, Southeast and South Asia, a wide range of questions, such as How representative are parliaments?

This edited book addresses these questions systematically and theoretically, with contributions from leading scholars in the field of US-China relations and Asian security. It elevates the analysis of the SCS disputes from maritime and legal issues to the strategic level between the United States and China.

This book explores new perspectives, concepts, and theories that are socially relevant, culturally suitable, and normatively attractive in the East Asia context.