The Asian financial crisis has attracted much attention to this part of the world, especially Southeast Asia where the crisis first emerged. While there are signs of economic recovery in the affected countries, financial events in Southeast Asia remain the focus of international attention.Part I of this book highlights the basic features of the financial systems of Southeast Asian countries and Part II highlights the financial reforms that have been implemented in several Southeast Asian countries and Hong Kong. Part III is a convenient directory of the various financial institutions in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Part IV is a list of abbreviations and Part V is a lexicon or dictionary of financial terms arranged from A to Z. Many of these terms are specific to Southeast Asia. They are not found in most standard dictionaries on banking and finance.

The Democracy Sourcebook offers a collection of classic writings and contemporary scholarship on democracy, creating a book that can be used by undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of courses, including American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political philosophy. The editors have chosen substantial excerpts from the essential theorists of the past, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and the authors of The Federalist Papers; they place them side by side with the work of such influential modern scholars as Joseph Schumpeter, Adam Przeworski, Seymour Martin Lipset, Samuel P. Huntington, Ronald Dworkin, and Amartya Sen. The book is divided into nine self-contained chapters: "Defining Democracy," which discusses procedural, deliberative, and substantive democracy; "Sources of Democracy," on why democracy exists in some countries and not in others; "Democracy, Culture, and Society," about cultural and sociological preconditions for democracy; "Democracy and Constitutionalism," which focuses on the importance of independent courts and a bill of rights; "Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism"; "Representation," discussing which is the fairest system of democratic accountability; "Interest Groups"; "Democracy's Effects," an examination of the effect of democracy on economic growth and social inequality; and finally, "Democracy and the Global Order" discusses the effects of democracy on international relations, including the propensity for war and the erosion of national sovereignty by transnational forces.