This edited collection draws together papers on competition policy that were presented at the twenty-eighth conference of the Pacific Area Forum on Trade and Development (PAFTAD), held in Manila on 16th to 18th September 2002.

'This is a very timely book which provides an unprecedented analysis of the factors which have shaped the competition law systems of ten Asian countries and Australia. The comprehensive discussion from varying viewpoints against the backdrop of the significantly different environments within which the respective regimes have developed creates a framework for the comparative assessment of competition law systems elsewhere in the world.' Lutz-Christian Wolff, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 'New competition laws have been adopted throughout Asia in recent years, and some of the older laws have been significantly strengthened. This makes Asia a fascinating region in which to look at the political and economic circumstances of the countries in which such laws are to be found, and to consider the very different conditions that exist within them. This book will be an invaluable guide to anyone with an interest in the developing competition law regimes of this immensely important part of the world.' Richard Whish, King's College London, UK This detailed book describes and analyses the essential political economy features that provide the backdrop to the competition policies and competition law regimes of several of the most important Asian economies. The book also discusses the impact of these political economy influences in determining whether the adopted competition policy is effective. Each of the authors experts in their respective countries offer specific insights into the nature and structure of their competition regimes and discuss to what extent the varied political economy factors unique to that country help to determine whether and to what extent the established system promotes or hinders economic competition in that jurisdiction. Comprising wide coverage of Asian jurisdictions, including Australia, this book will strongly appeal to students and academics of law, politics, economics and economic development, policy makers in national governments, international agencies and competition authorities, as well as practicing competition lawyers and in-house counsel.

An examination of the challenges of managing the upper watersheds of mainland South East Asia, taking local livelihoods and resource competition as its point of departure. It presents the factors of change that drive the economic, environmental and social transformations of the area.

China’s rise and stepped-up involvement in Southeast Asia have prompted a blend of anticipation and unease among its smaller neighbors. The stunning growth of China has yanked up the region’s economies, but its militarization of the South China Sea and dam building on the Mekong River has nations wary about Beijing’s outsized ambitions. Southeast Asians long felt relatively secure, relying on the United States as a security hedge, but that confidence began to slip after the Trump administration launched a trade war with China and questioned the usefulness of traditional alliances. This compelling book provides a snapshot of ten countries in Southeast Asia by exploring their diverse experiences with China and how this impacts their perceptions of Beijing’s actions and its long-term political, economic, military, and “soft power” goals in the region.

From the acclaimed author and scholar James C. Scott, the compelling tale of Asian peoples who until recently have stemmed the vast tide of state-making to live at arm’s length from any organized state society For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia (a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries) have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them—slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare. This book, essentially an “anarchist history,” is the first-ever examination of the huge literature on state-making whose author evaluates why people would deliberately and reactively remain stateless. Among the strategies employed by the people of Zomia to remain stateless are physical dispersion in rugged terrain; agricultural practices that enhance mobility; pliable ethnic identities; devotion to prophetic, millenarian leaders; and maintenance of a largely oral culture that allows them to reinvent their histories and genealogies as they move between and around states. In accessible language, James Scott, recognized worldwide as an eminent authority in Southeast Asian, peasant, and agrarian studies, tells the story of the peoples of Zomia and their unlikely odyssey in search of self-determination. He redefines our views on Asian politics, history, demographics, and even our fundamental ideas about what constitutes civilization, and challenges us with a radically different approach to history that presents events from the perspective of stateless peoples and redefines state-making as a form of “internal colonialism.” This new perspective requires a radical reevaluation of the civilizational narratives of the lowland states. Scott’s work on Zomia represents a new way to think of area studies that will be applicable to other runaway, fugitive, and marooned communities, be they Gypsies, Cossacks, tribes fleeing slave raiders, Marsh Arabs, or San-Bushmen.