The search for good governance has become an increasingly important element of public policy and public management and is high on the political agenda of East Asian countries. The need for robust governance structures and institutions was brought into sharp focus by the Asian Financial Crisis which adversely affected most East Asian societies. Since then they have begun to look for ways to restructure their public administration and political systems in order to develop new mechanisms and structures to promote good governance. This book focuses on how selected Asian states have responded to the growing impact of "liberalizing and marketizing trends" in public policy formulation and public management. To what extent is the "state-guided" regime in Asia still relevant to governing public policy / public management? What are the policy implications for a growing number of Asian states which are pursuing more pro-competition policy instruments? The book is a timely and important collection that offers critical analysis of the search for new governance in Asia and compares and contrasts experiences in selected Asian societies such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and other parts of South East Asia. Chapters are written by leading scholars in the fields of comparative development, policy and governance studies from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan and the United Kingdom.

This book offers critical analysis of the search for new governance in Asia, comparing and contrasting the experiences of different Asian societies, including: China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

East Asia is at the heart of the global economic transformation, and the countries of the region are witnessing rapidly changing labour markets, alongside the pressure to cut production costs and lower taxes in order to become successful ‘competition states’. These changes have resulted in increased welfare demands which governments, organizations and agencies across the region have had to address. This book examines welfare regimes in the Greater China region, encompassing mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. In so doing, it explores the ways in which the rapid growth and internationalisation of the economy across Greater China is presenting new social policy challenges that governments, social welfare organizations and agencies in the region are having to respond to. Rather than simply describing and categorising welfare systems, the contributors to this volume add to our understanding of how one of the major economic transformations of the contemporary era in East Asia is shaping welfare provision in the region. In turn, in this context of economic change, they examine the new strategies and measures that have been adopted in order to reduce the heavy burden on the state in terms of welfare provision, whilst also attempting to diversify funding and provision sources to meet the pressing welfare needs. Based upon extensive fieldwork by leading scholars of social policy, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Asian social policy, comparative development and social policy, social welfare and Chinese studies.