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Cambridge Asia-Pacific Studies aims to provide a focus and forum for scholarly work on the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, and its component sub-regions, namely Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The series is produced in association with the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University and the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

  • General Editors: John Ravenhill
  • Editorial Boards: James Cotton, Donald Denoon, Mark Elvin, Hal Hill, Ron May, Anthony Milner, Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Anthony Low

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11 results in Cambridge Asia-Pacific Studies

Economic Crisis and Corporate Restructuring in Korea
  • Reforming the Chaebol
  • Edited by Stephan Haggard, Wonhyuk Lim, Euysung Kim
  • Published online:
    05 July 2014
    Print publication:
    26 February 2003
  • Asian business conglomerates have clearly been successful agents of growth, mobilizing capital, borrowing technology from abroad and spearheading Asia's exports. However, these firms have long had a number of organisational and financial weaknesses, including heavy reliance on debt, that make them vulnerable to shocks. Nowhere was this more true than in Korea, where the large corporate groups known as chaebol have dominated the economic landscape. This collection of essays by leading political scientists and economists provides a comprehensive look at the chaebol problem in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. The authors consider the historical evolution of the chaebol and their contribution to the onset of economic turmoil in 1997. The book analyses the government's short-run response to corporate and financial distress, and outlines an agenda for longer-term reform of the financial system, corporate governance and the politics of business-government relations.

The Politics of Justice and Human Rights
  • Southeast Asia and Universalist Theory
  • Anthony J. Langlois
  • Published online:
    05 July 2014
    Print publication:
    15 October 2001
  • This book, first published in 2001, makes a major contribution to the theory and practice of human rights, engaging in particular with the 'Asian values' debates of the 1990s. It is especially concerned with the tension between a universal regime of human rights and its ability to accommodate diversity. Incorporating original fieldwork from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the book also draws out the significance of Southeast Asian developments for international human rights discourse. The book advances beyond the stalemate that the 'Asian values' debate has reached, developing an intermediary stance between the competing claims of universalism and relativism. Drawing on the work of Cass Sustein and Chantal Mouffe, the theoretical contribution of the book will ensure its interest to readers with an interest in human rights. This book is a definitive account of contemporary political discussions of human rights in Southeast Asia and an important contribution to the development of human rights.

The Asian Financial Crisis and the Architecture of Global Finance
  • Edited by Gregory W. Noble, John Ravenhill
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    04 September 2000
  • The financial crises across Asia in 1997–98 ignited fierce debate about domestic economic weaknesses and flaws in the international financial system. Some analysts blamed Asian governments for inadequate prudential supervision, widespread failures of corporate governance and even 'crony capitalism'. Others assailed the inherent instability of global financial markets and what they considered to be hasty and ill-conceived liberalization taken at the behest of Western-dominated international financial institutions. In this volume a distinguished group of political scientists, economists and practitioners examines the political and economic causes and consequences of the crisis. They ask: To what extent were domestic economic factors to blame for the crises? Why were some economies more prone to crisis than others? What are the costs and benefits of international financial liberalization?

Asia in Japan's Embrace
  • Building a Regional Production Alliance
  • Walter Hatch, Kozo Yamamura
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    28 June 1996
  • This book is an incisive analysis of Japan's deepening economic presence in Asia. It challenges neoclassical economists, arguing that instead of simply building a 'yen bloc' or responding to market forces, Japanese business and government elites are working together to build an expanded - and potentially exclusive - production zone. The authors suggest that the transplantation of many standard Japanese business practices in Asia is based on the concept of keiretsu (enterprise group) which allows a complex web of production networks to develop. The book shows that such strategic control of technology is a unique model of globalisation. While informed by economic theory, Asia in Japan's Embrace is highly accessible, containing interviews and anecdotal evidence from factory floors and board rooms. It is comprehensive and controversial, outlining policy implications and the impact on global trade.

Globalization and State Transformation in China
  • Yongnian Zheng
  • Published online:
    11 December 2009
    Print publication:
    11 December 2003
  • Globalization has thrown up challenges and opportunities which all countries have to grapple with. In his 2004 book, Yongnian Zheng explores how China's leaders have embraced global capitalism and market-oriented modernization. He shows that with reform measures properly implemented, the nation-state can not only survive globalization, but can actually be revitalized through outside influence. To adapt to the globalized age, Chinese leaders have encouraged individual enterprise and the development of the entrepreneurial class. The state bureaucratic system and other important economic institutions have been restructured to accommodate a globalized market economy. In rebuilding the economic system in this way, Zheng observes that Chinese leaders have been open to the importation of Western ideas. By contrast, the same leaders are reluctant to import Western concepts of democracy and the rule of law. The author argues that, ultimately, this selectivity will impede China's progress in becoming a modern nation state.

Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia
  • Jacques Bertrand
  • Published online:
    10 December 2009
    Print publication:
    19 December 2003
  • Since 1998, which marked the end of the thirty-three-year New Order regime under President Suharto, there has been a dramatic increase in ethnic conflict and violence in Indonesia. In his innovative and persuasive account, Jacques Bertrand argues that conflicts in Maluku, Kalimantan, Aceh, Papua, and East Timur were a result of the New Order's narrow and constraining reinterpretation of Indonesia's 'national model'. The author shows how, at the end of the 1990s, this national model came under intense pressure at the prospect of institutional transformation, a reconfiguration of ethnic relations, and an increase in the role of Islam in Indonesia's political institutions. It was within the context of these challenges, that the very definition of the Indonesian nation and what it meant to be Indonesian came under scrutiny. The book sheds light on the roots of religious and ethnic conflict at a turning point in Indonesia's history.

Land, Custom and Practice in the South Pacific
  • Edited by R. Gerard Ward, Elizabeth Kingdon
  • Published online:
    10 November 2009
    Print publication:
    27 October 1995
  • Land tenure arrangements are intimately linked with the organization of society, the economy, political structures and geography. In the South Pacific Islands the majority of land is held by community groups under 'customary' or 'traditional' forms of tenure. This book argues that land formerly held in common is now often controlled and used exclusively by individuals or nuclear families - it is being privatized. Detailed case studies demonstrate these trends in Western Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Fiji. Parallels are noted from Asia, Europe and Africa, where comparable forces of commercialization, individualization and socio-political change have brought comparable results. The denial of these trends by policy makers in the region reflects an interest in maintaining the image of traditionalism and its associated status and power. The divergence between rhetoric and reality creates dilemmas for many Pacific Islanders and their leaders.

The Politics of Open Economies
  • Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand
  • Alasdair Bowie, Daniel Unger
  • Published online:
    10 November 2009
    Print publication:
    30 October 1997
  • This book asks why some countries have responded to the external constraints and opportunities arising from their global and regional economic context by opening up their economies. In particular, the authors examine the role domestic political and economic factors play in shaping the decision to become more open, or more inward-looking. The countries of Southeast Asia have generally enjoyed economic success in the postwar period. The authors argue that one of the explanations for this success has been their integration into the global division of labor, and analyze decision-makers' reasons for following this course. They place particular emphasis on external events, notably the two oil shocks of the 1970s, and the more recent outflow of investment capital and manufacturing capacity from Japan and East Asia.

Asia-Pacific Constitutional Systems
  • Graham Hassall, Cheryl Saunders
  • Published online:
    09 October 2009
    Print publication:
    07 May 2002
  • This 2002 book describes and critically analyses the formal constitutional changes that have taken place in the Asia-Pacific region, embracing the countries of East and South East Asia and Pacific Island states. In examining the variety amongst constitutional systems operating in the region, it asks several key questions: What constitutional arrangements operate in the region and how can their fundamental differences in structure and operation be explained? How do social, political and economic factors limit the effects of the constitution in place? What lessons exist for the practice of constitutionalism elsewhere? The aim of the book is to ground the idea of constitutionalism in local and global practices, and, through examining these practices, to identify significant challenges to the workings of contemporary constitutional orders.

Tiger Technology
  • The Creation of a Semiconductor Industry in East Asia
  • John A. Mathews, Dong-Sung Cho
  • Published online:
    09 October 2009
    Print publication:
    27 January 2000
  • This book grows out of a five-year collaborative research project undertaken by the authors in East Asia. They have worked with firms and institutions in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, to inquire into the micro-processes of firm-level organizational learning that underpin technology leverage in an industry such as semiconductors. The processes investigated are not specific to microchips, but can be seen working in one knowledge-intensive sector after another. Mathews and Cho argue that indeed these are the processes that will shape industrial evolution in the twenty-first century, not just in East Asia but in the developed world as well. Tiger Technology concludes with an important observation - that wealth can be generated just as much through management of technology diffusion as through conventional concerns with innovation, provided the institutions of leverage are carefully constructed.

Tradition versus Democracy in the South Pacific
  • Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa
  • Stephanie Lawson
  • Published online:
    22 September 2009
    Print publication:
    26 January 1996
  • Much literature on non-Western traditions celebrates the renaissance of indigenous cultures. Others have been more critical of this renaissance, especially with respect to its political implications. This study analyses the assertion of 'tradition' by indigenous elites, looking especially at the way it is used to differentiate 'the West' from the 'non-West'. This is important to contemporary discussion about the validity of democracy outside the West and problems concerning universalism and relativism. The discussion of Fiji focuses on constitutional development and the traditionalist emphasis on chiefly legitimacy. The rise of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Tonga is considered against the background of a conservative political order that has so far resisted pressure for reform. The move to universal suffrage in Western Samoa is seen not as a rejection of traditional ways in favour of democratic norms, but as a means of preserving important aspects of traditional culture.