Many states in the Asia Pacific region are not built around a single homogenous people, but rather include many large, varied, different national groups. This book explores how states in the region attempt to develop commonality and a nation and the difficulties that arise. It discusses the consequences which ensue when competing narratives clash, and examines the nature of resistance to dominant narratives which arise. It considers the problems in a wide range of countries in the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Many states in the Asia Pacific region are not built around a single homogenous people, but rather include many large, varied, different national groups. This book explores how states in the region attempt to develop commonality and a nation and the difficulties that arise. It discusses the consequences which ensue when competing narratives clash, and examines the nature of resistance to dominant narratives which arise. It considers the problems in a wide range of countries in the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

This book offers a unique analysis of how political representatives construct ideas about the nation in contemporary Indonesian politics. In their struggle to define what the authors call the ‘national narrative’, would-be national leaders seek to develop a story about the nation’s past, present and future. These stories feature a unique plot, set of characters, and a moral that the political narrator hopes will resonate. In contemporary Indonesia, the authors assess two prominent national narratives: the technocratic and populist national narratives. The book concludes with an analysis that considers other potential sources of ideas about the nation, as well as the potential implications for domestic politics and Indonesian grand strategy.

In the twenty-first century, East Asia has been increasingly marked both by tensions at a government level and a chauvinistic mood among the polity. While China’s rise is in one respect the proximate driver of these changes in tone, it draws on a range of unresolved grievances among the respective historical narratives of Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and the Koreas. These conflicting views of the region’s past are a crucial barrier to its cohesive and stable future. This book brings together East Asian scholars from a range of academic disciplines, including China historians, political historians and political scientists to illuminate the interconnectedness of East Asia and discuss how a shared historical narrative might be constructed. Their contributions are organised into 3 parts focusing respectively on historical narratives of China, historical narratives of East Asia, and reconciling historical narratives. The book will appeal to researcher interested in the historical narratives of international relations in East Asia.

Part of the series Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies, this book focuses on the concepts that recur in any discussion of nature, culture and society among the indigenous. The book, the third in a five-volume series, deals with the two key concepts of indigeneity and nation of indigenous people from all the continents of the world. With contributions from renowned scholars, activists and experts across the globe, it looks at issues and ideas of indigeneity, nationhood, nationality, State, identity, selfhood, constitutionalism, and citizenship in Africa, North America, New Zealand, Pacific Islands and Oceania, India, and Southeast Asia from philosophical, cultural, historical and literary points of view. Bringing together academic insights and experiences from the ground, this unique book with its wide coverage will serve as a comprehensive guide for students, teachers and scholars of indigenous studies. It will be essential reading for those in social and cultural anthropology, tribal studies, sociology and social exclusion studies, politics, religion and theology, cultural studies, literary and postcolonial studies, Third World and Global South studies, as well as activists working with indigenous communities.

"Singapore reaches an important milestone in its national development in 2015 when it celebrates its 50th year of independence. It has earned many accolades for the progress it has made in governance, the economy and societal development. However, with changing demographics, resource constraints and the emergence of regional competitors, Singapore's future is fraught with uncertainty. The book is a collection of papers presented at Singapore Perspectives 2015 by leading thought leaders and eminent speakers, reflecting on the critical decisions made in Singapore's past so as to envision strategic paths that the country should take in the future. The contributors include experts in their fields: Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan, Professor Evelyn Goh, Professor Tan Kong Yam, Professor Linda Lim, Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Tong Yee, Vikram Khanna and Associate Professor Eugene Tan. The inter-generational dialogue session with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress Chan Chun Sing carries the central theme of looking at the choices Singapore made in the past and the choices that have to be made moving forward. In line with reflecting on Singapore's past, the book will include a full report on a survey of 1,500 Singaporeans' perceptions of 50 historical events from independence to now."--

The Routledge Handbook of Politics in Asia is designed to serve as a comprehensive reference guide to politics in Asia. Covering East, South, Southeast, and Central Asia, this handbook brings together the work of leading international academics to cover the political histories, institutions, economies, and cultures of the region. Taking a comparative approach, it is divided into four parts, including: A thorough introduction to the politics of the four regions of Asia from the perspectives of democratization, foreign policy, political economy, and political culture. An examination of the "Big Three" of Asia – China, India, and Japan – focusing on issues including post-Mao reform, China’s new world outlook, Indian democracy, and Japanese foreign policy. A discussion of important contemporary issues, such as human rights, the politics of the internet, security, nationalism, and geopolitics. An analysis of the relationship between politics and certain theoretical ideas, such as Confucianism, Hinduism, socialist constitutionalism, and gender norms. As an invaluable and all-inclusive resource, this handbook will be useful for students, scholars, researchers, and practitioners of Asian politics and comparative politics.

War is only a small part of military life. Uniformed men and women spend the vast majority of their time away from combat, training, receiving medical attention, burying the dead and undertaking the myriad tasks of survival in an operational zone. Beyond Combat explores how the military manages its ‘other’ roles, as well as the experiences of the servicemen and women themselves. With contributions from Christina Twomey, Noah Riseman, Shirleene Robinson and Major Clare O’Neill, among others, Beyond Combat is a ground-breaking examination of life beyond the frontline.

Multilingual China explores the dynamics of multilingualism in one of the most multilingual countries in the world. This edited collection comprises frontline empirical research into a range of important issues that arise from the presence of 55 official ethnic minority groups, plus China’s search to modernize and strengthen the nation’s place in the world order. Topics focus on the dynamics of national, ethnic minority and foreign languages in use, policy making and education, inside China and beyond. Micro-studies of language contact and variation are included, as are chapters dealing with multilingual media and linguistic landscapes. The book highlights tensions such as threats to the sustainability of weak languages and dialects, the role and status of foreign languages (especially English) and how Chinese can be presented as a viable regional or international language. Multilingual China will appeal to academics and researchers working in multilingualism and multilingual education, as well as sinologists keen to examine the interplay of languages in this complex multilingual context.

Fake news is not new, and this issue poses an even greater challenge now. The speed of information has increased drastically with messages now spreading internationally within seconds online. With countless photographs, opinions, and hours of video published online every falsehoods proliferate rapidly. Readers are overwhelmed by the flood of information, but older markers of veracity (respected publications, official sources) have not kept up, nor has there been a commensurate growth in the ability to counter false or fake news. In many cases, staid publications of record such as newspapers have been eclipsed by new, visually attractive, and sometimes false, sources of information. All this has given an opportunity to those seeking to destabilize a state or to push their perspectives to the fore. Modern disinformation operations only need free Twitter or Facebook accounts or access to platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram.DRUMS: Distortions, Rumours, Untruths, Misinformation and Smears deals with the appeal of DRUMS, the ways DRUMS is employed, and measures to counter it. Organized in three sections — (i) Cognitive Predispositions and DRUMS, (ii) The Employment of DRUMS, and (iii) Countering DRUMS — this book offers a holistic discussion through the different specializations and different experiences of its academic, think-tanker, or policy practitioner contributors. DRUMS: Distortions, Rumours, Untruths, Misinformation and Smears aims to serve those new the topic or subject matter specialists seeking to widen their knowledge on other elements of the issue.