Although Asia has a long history of governance practices, its modern governance systems have been profoundly influenced by the Western models. This book explores how the declining economic and political influences on the global stage of the USA and Europe has significantly reduced developing countries’ confidence in the public governance models promoted by the Western world. As academics have begun to challenge the assuredness of the conventional logic of ‘Western = Global = Best’, scholarship has also grown on the contextualized governance experiences in Asia. This timely volume explores the emergence of Asian models of governance, taking into account the shifting global political economic landscape and the region’s rapid growth in recent decades. Could there be Asian models of governance that are distinct from the Western ones? If so, what are the key characteristics? The authors examine the potentials and challenges of Asian models of governance based on empirical studies from various Asian societies, ranging from Singapore and South Korea to Myanmar and Vietnam. As well as theoretical explorations, the book also provides rich empirical evidence on the contextualized lessons accumulated in Asia, offering a more nuanced understanding of Asian governance experience through comparative case studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Asian Public Policy which was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education AcRF Tier 2 Grant entitled “Transnational Knowledge Transfer and Dynamic Governance in Comparative Perspective”.

The past two decades have witnessed far-reaching socioeconomic and political changes in Asia, such as the growing intraregional flows of capital, goods, people, and knowledge, the rise of China as the world’s second largest economy, and its increasing influence in Southeast Asia, intensified US–China confrontations in the global arena, and the onslaught of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Focusing on multidimensional interactions (including geopolitical and economic relationships, diaspora engagement, and knowledge exchange) between China and Southeast Asia, this book argues that an interwoven perspective of the political economy, transnational governance, and regional networks serves as an effective analytical framework for deciphering these transformations as well as their global and theoretical implications. Drawing upon a wide range of primary data and engaging with the latest interdisciplinary scholarship on contemporary Asia, this book’s thought-provoking and nuanced analyses will appeal to scholars and students in Chinese and Southeast Asian studies, international political economy, international relationships, ethnic and migration studies, and public governance.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of transactional forms of the digital across the Asian region by addressing the platforms and infrastructures that shape the digital experience. Contributors argue that each and every encounter mediated by the digital carries with it a functional exchange, but at the same time each transaction also implies an exchange based on social relationships for the digital age. In capturing the digital revolution through case studies of economic, informational, and social exchanges from across the larger Asian region, the book offers a richly contextualized and comparative account of the pervasive nature of the digital as both a medium for action and a medium of record.

International talent management has become a critically important topic for scholarly discussion, in policy debates, and among the business community. Despite this, however, research into talent management tends to lack theoretical underpinnings, especially from an international, multidisciplinary, and comparative perspective. This Research Handbook fills this gap, bringing together a range of leading researchers, scholars, and thinkers to debate and advance the conceptualization and understanding of this multifaceted subject.

This book attempts to reveal historical dynamism of transforming contemporary Maritime Asia and to identify key driving forces or agencies for the evolution and transformation of Maritime Asia in the context of global history studies. It seeks to accomplish these goals by connecting different experiences in Maritime Asia both historically from the late early-modern to the present and spatially covering both East and Southeast Asia. Focusing on interactions on and through oceans, seas, and islands, Maritime Asia can deal with any aspects of human society and the nature, including diplomacy, maritime trade, cultural exchange, identity and others. Its interest in supra-regional interactions and networks, migration and diaspora, combined with its microscopic concern with local and trans-border affairs, will surely contribute to the common task of contemporary social sciences and humanities, to relativize the conventional framework based on the nation-state. In this regard, research in Maritime Asia claims to be an integral part of global studies. Part I deals with long-distance trade and diplomatic relations during the late early modern era and its transition to the modern era, mainly in the nineteenth century. Part II focuses on the emergence of transregional and trans-oceanic Asian networks and the original institution-building efforts in the Asia-Pacific region in the twentieth century.

Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man is a new philosophy of history. This volume outlines how sustainable history is propelled by good governance, which balances the tension between the attributes of human nature - emotionality, amorality and egoisms - and human dignity needs, such as reason, security, human rights, accountability, transparency, justice, opportunity, innovation and inclusiveness. The author proposes minimum criteria for good governance that are sensitive to local cultures and histories but meet certain common global values to ensure maximum and sustainable moral and political cooperation. Using an ocean model of a single collective human civilisation, the author argues that we should think in terms of a common human story that is comprised of multiple geo-cultural domains and sub-cultures with a history of mutual borrowing and synergies. The author argues that, today, all geo-cultural domains must succeed if humanity as a whole is to triumph. This collective triumph will also depend on reason and a recognition that a great deal of knowledge is indeterminate and may be temporally, spatially and perhaps culturally constrained, as is outlined in the author's new theory of knowledge: "Neuro-rational Physicalism". Dr. Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan is Senior Scholar in Geostrategy and Director of the Programme on the Geopolitical Implications of Globalisation and Transnational Security at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Geneva, Switzerland. "This book is an exceptionally wide-ranging examination of past and present approaches to the securing of a qualitatively adequate social life on the planet. The need for intercultural dialogue is pressing and stated as a matter of urgency in the text. That argument is well-presented and it is helpfully accompanied by a large amount of empirical evidence. The book is also a strong and ethically attractive humanist statement about the value of human interaction that incorporates a vision of mutual respect based on a mixture of scientific arguments and normative aspirations. Those features are very impressive." Professor Michael Freeden, Professor of Politics, Director of the Centre for Political Ideologies, Professorial Fellow, Mansfield College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

As competition among the traditional great powers in the Asia region intensifies, Canada faces a stark choice: Should it align its foreign policy with the US-led free and open Indo-Pacific strategy? Shared values and material ties give Canada a clear incentive to follow the lead of the United States and Western-aligned democracies in the region. However, there are other considerations to take into account. Follow the Leader presents the case for the development of a foreign policy based on understanding how Asia sees itself rather than Western presumptions. Examining a range of key issues, it draws on Asian scholarship, leadership statements, polling, and media to demonstrate Western misunderstanding of regional developments and to outline alternative, regionally based perspectives on Asia’s contemporary dynamics. This critical analysis urges the Canadian government to chart an independent policy, arguing that whatever Canada might gain from following its traditional allies, it equally stands to lose by aligning itself with a consortium of states committed to self-preservation over regional stability.

This important Handbook brings together preeminent international scholars, sharing their comparative and international perspectives on the topic. Their original contributions cover the key issues and questions around policy transfer, diffusion and circulation research. Altogether, chapters illuminate how rich and provocative the current debate on the interpretation of how public policies travels is and the vibrancy of the area’s research within the broad planet of public policy analysis.

For the first time in the modern era, Asia is not dominated by an outside power. Is this the Asian Century? Will internal rivalries emerge between China, Japan and India? How will growing tensions between the United States and China shape the global economic, strategic and political system? Covering governance, culture, and society in East and South Asia, this book introduces: - Key economic developments, including the Asian economic miracle and the 1997/8 Financial Crisis - The central role of education, and the contentious debate about 'Asian values' - The rapid expansion of military spending in the region - The demography and geography of major nations and their forms of nationalism With further reading suggestions and discussion questions for every chapter, this is essential introductory reading for students of Asian Studies and interested general readers alike.

Many studies of government in China either simply describe the political institutions or else focus, critically, on the weaknesses of the system, such as corruption or the absence of Western-style democracy. Authors of these studies fail to appreciate the surprising ability of China’s government to rapidly transform a once impoverished economy and to recover from numerous crises from 1978 to the present. This book, on the other hand, takes a more balanced, more positive view. This view is based on a study of changes in China’s institutions for coping with critical crises in governance since 1978. These changes include better management of leadership succession, better crisis management, improved social welfare, the management of society through treating different social groups differently depending on their potential to rival the Party state, and a variety of limited, intra-party and grassroots democracy. This book applies to the Chinese model the term “pragmatic authoritarianism.” It explains changes to and the likely future direction of China’s governance model. It compares current risks in China’s governance with threats that terminated dynasties and the republic in China over the past four thousand years and concludes that the regime can be expected to survive a considerable period despite its existing flaws. "Few topics in Chinese politics are as significant as the nature, state and prospects of the political regime. While the topic had been unduly understudied for a long period of time, a young generation of scholars has emerged on this subject. Among others, the book by Hongyi Lai stands out and provides a comprehensive and penetrating analysis on this topic....I am confident that his book will make a significant contribution to the study of Chinese politics and may well define the debate on China’s political development, governance and model for years to come." - Yongnian Zheng, Director, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore