During the 1980s and 1990s Asian 'developmental states' attracted much attention in political science and economics literature, but the role of law in the economic development was neglected. It was only after the Asian crisis of 1997 that many analysts began to focus on a lack of regulation and transparency as a major factor triggering the crisis. The crucial questions now are how successful the current reforms will be, and which features of the Asian approach to commercial law will be resistant to reform pressures. This book examines the prospects for commercial law reform in Asia, giving particular attention to Japan and Singapore, as frequently cited role models for Asian developmentalism, and also examining development related business laws in countries such as China, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Through an in-depth legal analysis by leading scholars, this book searches for the exact legal causes of land-related disputes in Asia within the histories, legal systems and social realities of the respective countries. It consists of four main parts: examining the relationship between law and development; land-taking in developmental stages; common ownership; and proposals for new approaches to land law and dispute resolution. With a combination of orthodox legal interpretations and the empirical approach of legal sociology, the contributors undertake an extensive comparative legal analysis across common and civil law traditions. Most importantly, they propose pathways forward for legal transformations in the pursuit of sustainable development in Asia. This book is vital contribution to the study of comparative law, and especially property law, in East and Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse regions in the world – hosting a wide range of languages, ethnicities, religions, economies, ecosystems and political systems. Amidst this diversity, however, has been a common desire to develop. This provides a uniting theme across landscapes of difference. This Handbook traces the uneven experiences that have accompanied development in Southeast Asia. The region is often considered to be a development success story; however, it is increasingly recognized that growth underpinning this development has been accompanied by patterns of inequality, violence, environmental degradation and cultural loss. In 30 chapters, written by established and emerging experts of the region, the Handbook examines development encounters through four thematic sections: • Approaching Southeast Asian development, • Institutions and economies of development, • People and development and • Environment and development. The authors draw from national or sub-national case studies to consider regional scale processes of development – tracing the uneven distribution of costs, risks and benefits. Core themes include the ongoing neoliberalization of development, issues of social and environmental justice and questions of agency and empowerment. This important reference work provides rich insights into the diverse impacts of current patterns of development and in doing so raises questions and challenges for realizing more equitable alternatives. It will be of value to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Development Studies, Human Geography, Political Ecology and Asian Politics.

Public Law in East Asia is a collection of the leading English-language articles on constitutional and administrative law in the Asian region, written by many of the leading scholars from this area. The region has its own distinct legal and political traditions, and its systems of government have facilitated dynamic economic growth, but the role of public law has not been well understood. Covering a wide range of jurisdictions in a single volume, this collection provides insights into the ways in which institutions of Western origin have been integrated into Asian political and legal cultures, producing new syntheses.

Since the passage of the ASEAN Charter in 2008, ASEAN has transformed itself from a loose economic cooperation, into a formal intergovernmental organization designed to create an “ASEAN Community” forged together in three pillar communities – the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community, and tASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Forty years of pre-Charter ASEAN practices, coupled with over ten years of post-Charter ASEAN practices thus far, has witnessed the conclusion of hundreds of legally binding regional treaties and similarly binding international instruments in all areas of economic, political-security, and socio-cultural concerns for Southeast Asia to achieve ASEAN’s rule of law-based development objective. Pre-Charter and post-Charter ASEAN Law is variably implemented under a hybrid governance system that depends heavily on ASEAN Member State national implementation alongside ASEAN’s evolving regional institutions. The result is not a model of deep integration as in the case of the European Union, but a particular paradigm of horizontal embeddedness of ASEAN Law – in all its norms and operational practices – contingent on the capacities and compliance of national government bureaucracies in Southeast Asia. This edited collection is a concise authoritative volume covering the practical, doctrinal, legal, and policy aspects of the new regime of ASEAN Law and its consequences for realizing rule of law-based development in Southeast Asia’s emerging single market and production base. Drawing together contributions from a range of key thinkers in the field, the editors present the legal and policy-making issues implicated in the practical implementation of Southeast Asia’s single market and its regime for the free movement of goods, services, foreign investment, and cross-border labor. The book also examines the nature of regional law-making under ASEAN before and after the commencement of regional integration in 2015, the nature of ASEAN’s economic regulators, as well as the evolving structure for enforcement and harmonization of “ASEAN Law” through the array of Southeast Asian national courts, arbitral tribunals, and incipient mechanisms for inter-State, intra-regional, and individual-State conflict management and dispute resolution. This book is highly relevant to students, scholars, and policy-makers with an interest in ASEAN Law and regional policy, and to Southeast Asian studies in general.

As the worlds political and economic landscape changes in response to the rise of Asian countries such as China, so Asian influences on the global legal order will become more pronounced. Many countries in the region, such as Japan and South Korea, influence the development of international law in various ways, either individually or collectively through multinational organisations such as ASEAN. This collection of published work by leading East Asian scholars covers Asian perspectives concerning various issues in international law, ranging from general perspectives to particular themes such as international economic law, international human rights law, international ocean law, international criminal law, international security law and international dispute settlement. For the first time it provides a comprehensive picture of how and why East Asian countries participate in international law making, as well as comply with international law in their state practices. In so doing, the editors attempt to address the question whether the rising powers in East Asia will change the existing international legal order in future.

This timely book provides a comprehensive survey of recent developments in intellectual property (IP) law within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, written by experienced scholars and practitioners in the field.