Comparing Asian Politics presents an invaluable comparative examination of politics and government in three Asian nations; India, China, and Japan. The author elucidates the links between politics and each nation's distinctive cultural and historical contexts and demonstrates the intermingling and grafting of Asian traditions with the influence of Western values and institutions. National identity, political cohesion, and socioeconomic change emerge as central to how politics has developed in each nation-state. Including new focus boxes on political and social issues and other important countries in Asia, this third edition provides insight into topics such as the significance of constitutions in the political process; the parliamentary system in Asia; the regionalization of politics and the importance of levels of government; the decay of one-party rule; the links between development and democratization; and the impact of globalization. This essential book not only illuminates the politics of India, China, and Japan in relation to one another, it also suggests to readers how their own experience of politics can be informed by understanding the politics and government of these three Asian nations.

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the political systems of all ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste from a comparative perspective. It investigates the political institutions, actors and processes in eleven states, covering democracies as well as autocratic regimes. Each country study includes an analysis of the current system of governance, the party and electoral system, and an assessment of the state, its legal system and administrative bodies. Students of political science and regional studies will also learn about processes of democratic transition and autocratic persistence, as well as how civil society and the media influence the political culture in each country.

Comparing Asian Politics presents an invaluable comparative examination of politics and government in three Asian nations: India, China, and Japan. The author elucidates the links between politics and each nation's distinctive cultural and historical contexts and demonstrates the intermingling and grafting of Asian traditions with the influence of Western values and institutions. National identity, political cohesion, and socioeconomic change emerge as central to how politics has developed in each nation-state. Also included are focus boxes on political and social issues in other important countries in Asia. The book provides insight into topics such as the significance of constitutions in the political process; the parliamentary system in Asia; the regionalization of politics and the importance of levels of government; the decay of one-party rule; the links between development and democratization; and the impact of globalization. This essential text not only illuminates the politics of India, China, and Japan in relation to one another, it also suggests to readers how their own experience of politics can be informed by understanding the politics and government of these three Asian nations. In this new edition, the author includes a discussion on the recent political changes in China and the election of Xi Jinping in early 2013, the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, and the recent elections in India.

In a major new book, Lucian Pye reconceptualizes Asian political development as a product of cultural attitudes about power and authority. He contrasts the great traditions of Confucian East Asia with the Southeast Asian cultures and the South Asian traditions of Hinduism and Islam, and explores the national differences within these larger civilizations. Breaking with modern political theory, Pye believes that power differs profoundly from one culture to another. In Asia the masses of the people are group-oriented and respectful of authority, while their leaders are more concerned with dignity and upholding collective pride than with problem-solving. As culture decides the course of political development, Pye shows how Asian societies, confronted with the task of setting up modern nation-states, respond by fashioning paternalistic forms of power that satisfy their deep psychological craving for security. This new paternalism may appear essentially authoritarian to Western eyes, but Pye maintains that it is a valid response to the people's needs and will ensure community solidarity and strong group loyalties. He predicts that we are certain to see emerging from Asia's accelerating transformation some new version of modern society that may avoid many of the forms of tension common to Western civilization but may also produce a whole new set of problems. This book revitalizes Asian political studies on a plane that comprehends the large differences between Asia and the West and at the same time is sensitive to the subtle variations among the many Asian cultures. Its comparative perspective will provide indispensable insights to anyone who wishes to think more deeply about the modern Asian states.

Like the postcolonial world more generally, Southeast Asia exhibits tremendous variation in state capacity and authoritarian durability. Ordering Power draws on theoretical insights dating back to Thomas Hobbes to develop a unified framework for explaining both of these political outcomes. States are especially strong and dictatorships especially durable when they have their origins in 'protection pacts': broad elite coalitions unified by shared support for heightened state power and tightened authoritarian controls as bulwarks against especially threatening and challenging types of contentious politics. These coalitions provide the elite collective action underpinning strong states, robust ruling parties, cohesive militaries, and durable authoritarian regimes - all at the same time. Comparative-historical analysis of seven Southeast Asian countries (Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Vietnam, and Thailand) reveals that subtly divergent patterns of contentious politics after World War II provide the best explanation for the dramatic divergence in Southeast Asia's contemporary states and regimes.

The Nature of Asian Politics is a broad and thematic treatment of the fundamental factors that characterize politics in the fourteen key countries of Southeast and Northeast Asia. Bruce Gilley begins with an overview of state-society relations, then moves on to the fundamental questions of development and democracy, and finally shifts to an exploration of governance and public policy in the region. This book proposes an Asian governance model that is useful for understanding politics from Japan to Indonesia. By reviving an earlier paradigm known as oriental despotism and applying it to political theories on the Asian region, this book is likely to attract wide debate among students of Asian politics and among Western policy makers seeking to engage the region.

This book introduces readers to the deep political tensions in the Asia-Pacific and offers classroom simulations designed to encourage students to delve deeper into the issues and dynamics of the region.