Singapore and New Zealand are island nations that share many similarities and have enjoyed close relations for almost sixty years. Both face global challenges in today's less stable world. Twenty-seven prominent experts cover a wide range of topics, from Singapore's and New Zealand's history, foreign policy, trade relations, economy, sustainability and climate policies, to creative sectors, museums and ageing populations. Other distinguished authors highlight the close cooperation in defence, trade and business.The Editor, Dr Anne-Marie Schleich, was a German career diplomat posted to Singapore from 1982 to 1985 and was the German Ambassador to New Zealand from 2012 to 2016. She is now an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, Singapore.

Around the globe, there is a growing awareness of the importance of addressing students’ social and emotional development and wellbeing during schooling. Although the bulk of the work in this area has been conducted in North America and Europe, there is now a burgeoning interest in this topic in Australia and the wider Asia Pacific. This book is the first ever to provide a timely and important collection of diverse perspectives on and approaches to social and emotional learning in the Australian and Asia Pacific context. Adopting a broad view of social and emotional learning, the book explores positive psychology, belonging, teachers’ professional development, pre-service training and post-initial training in Australia and in neighbouring communities such as China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Fiji, and other Pacific nations. "Frydenberg, Martin, and Collie have provided an incredible service by bringing together in a single well planned scholarly volume an incredible and well balanced group of senior and early career cutting edge researchers from Australia, Asia and the Asia Pacific area tackling approaches and key issues of social and emotional learning. Their much needed volume links research on key factors, such as differing perspectives, measurement issues, the identification of at-risk children, teachers' social and emotional development, and these and other across the cultures of an increasingly vibrant and developing geographic region. It is indeed encouraging to gain the sense of depth and breadth of ongoing research that the volume gives. " John Roodenburg PhD FAPS MCEDP MCCOUNSP, Monash University Melbourne "Social and Emotional Learning is understood to be a crucial part of the school curriculum. This book covers the field, with a refreshing focus on work being done in Australia and in neighbouring countries. For school psychologists, the book helps us to understand how SEL can help at every level – from working with individuals, small groups, whole classes, or with the entire school. Our work with vulnerable students, individually or in small groups, is always more effective when embedded in the broader context of Social and Emotional Learning." Paul Bertoia FAPS MCEDP, Senior School Psychologist “This collected volume of researchers from Australia and the Asia-Pacific provides a thorough review of important educational, social, and emotional development issues for practitioners and researchers around the world. Readers will greatly benefit from the breadth and depth of treatment in each of the topics covered.” Kit-Tai Hau, PhD, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

With emphasis on East Asian and North American examples – notably Japan and Quebec – Date, Laniel and their contributors take a new approach to the understanding of small nations and their role in the international system. Small nations, by their very nature, raise significant questions about what a nation is. Some small nations are sovereign states with relatively small populations and limited territory, others are nations within larger sovereign states, with distinctive cultures, governance structures or other features that differentiate them from their “parent” state. By focussing on non-European nations in particular, the contributors to this volume challenge our conceptions of what a small nation is and how it operates within the international system. They focus in particular on the nation-within-a-nation-state of Quebec and on Japan, supplemented by further examples from East Asia. By interrogating what these examples have to show us about the typology and character of small nations, they offer a critique of superpower and draw out the potential of small nation studies. A valuable resource for students and scholars of international relations and theories of the nation and nation state.

In this singular collection, indigenous experts describe the social welfare systems of fifteen East Asian and Pacific Island nations and locales. Vastly understudied, these lands offer key insight into the successes and failures of Western and native approaches to social work, suggesting new directions for practice and research in both local and global contexts. Combining international experiences and professional knowledge, contributors illuminate the role of history and culture in shaping the social welfare systems of Cambodia, China, Hong Kong (SAR, China), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Micronesian region (including the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam [Unincorporated Territory, U.S.A.], Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands [Commonwealth, U.S.A.], and Palau), Samoa and American Samoa (Unincorporated Territory, U.S.A.), South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The contributors link the values and issues that concern populaces most to the development of social work practice, policy, and research. Sharlene B. C. L. Furuto then conducts a comparative analysis of the essays including their data and social service programs, highlighting the similarities and differences between the evolution of social welfare in these nations and locales. She contrasts their indigenous approaches, the responses of governments and NGOs to social issues, the availability of social work education, as well as API models, paradigms, and templates, and the overall status of the social work profession. Furuto also adds a chapter comparing the distinct social welfare systems of Samoa and American Samoa. The only volume to focus exclusively on social welfare in East Asia and the Pacific, this anthology holds immense value for practitioners and researchers eager for global perspectives.

Regionalism in the Asia-Pacific is a complex and rapidly evolving phenomenon. This volume explores the relationship between globalization and regionalization, between states, markets and civil society, and between US hegemony and Asian aspirations.

Journal of international development.