This is an exploration of the moral and pragmatic dilemmas involved in the relationships between states in an era of change, derived from a workshop held by the Centre for International Policy Studies. The concern of those present was to examine human rights in the contemporary world.

Less noticed in the West than wars, terrorism and economic trends has been the historic development since World War II of constitutional government and law in Asia. Lawrence W. Beer has been a close observer of Asian linkages among law, politics, culture, and national security issues for over fifty years. His perspectives have been refined during long residence in Asia, especially Japan, by substantial friendly interactions with Asian legal scholars, judges and attorneys involved in the world of human rights constitutional law. This volume, which will be widely welcomed by students and researchers, brings together a selection of Beer’s many works previously published in diverse venue, but no longer easily accessible. The collection opens with a review of constitutionalism in Asia and the United States and concludes with a recent examination of Japan’s rejection of war: ‘Japan’s Constitutional Discourse and Performance’. By way of Afterword, the author offers an in-depth review of ‘Globalization of Human Rights in the 21st Century’.

Preface to the first edition