The Nature of Asian Politics

The Nature of Asian Politics provides an unparalleled, comprehensive first look at the politics of Southeast and Northeast Asia.

Bruce Gilley (Author)

9780521761710, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 September 2014

272 pages, 18 b/w illus. 3 tables
23.6 x 15.6 x 1.8 cm, 0.51 kg

'… I feel that Bruce Gilley's book is very fresh and well-versed in Asian politics in terms of the basic political science concepts like state and society, development, democracy, governance, and public policy. Gilley should be applauded since Asian comparative politics has been dominated either by Western-biased modernization theory and fixed political culture narratives or by those area specialists sticking to the description of a society and politics they respectively specialize in.” Takashi Inoguchi, Pacific Affairs

The Nature of Asian Politics is a broad and thematic treatment of the fundamental factors that characterize politics in the fourteen key countries of Southeast and Northeast Asia. Bruce Gilley begins with an overview of state-society relations, then moves on to the fundamental questions of development and democracy, and finally shifts to an exploration of governance and public policy in the region. This book proposes an Asian governance model that is useful for understanding politics from Japan to Indonesia. By reviving an earlier paradigm known as oriental despotism and applying it to political theories on the Asian region, this book is likely to attract wide debate among students of Asian politics and among Western policy makers seeking to engage the region.

1. Introduction
2. State and society
3. Development
4. Democracy
5. Governance
6. Public policy.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB]