The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is the only Asia-Pacific wide forum for consultations and dialogue on political and security issues. This book presented the forum comprehensively and from the standpoint of the region itself. It traces the ARF's origins, the efforts to move it from confidence building to "preventive diplomacy", and the forces that hold them back, analysing the strategic environme…
Tiger's roar identifies the major challenges facing Asia's four tigers (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong), Japan, China, and their Shoutheast Asian neighboars (notably Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the philippines) as the region increases its role and stature on the world stage.
Anwar Ibrahim represents a new generation of Asian leaders steering their nations into the new millennium, conscious of the fact that they operate in culturally and politically diverse communities. In this collection of essays, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance shares his vision for a more tolerant and diverse Asia. Brilliant, convincing and thought provoking. Asian Renai…
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is a new field of study in international relations. Found in 1985, the organization itself is just a decade old, quite a short period of time in the context of the millennial history of the Indian subcontinent. An association of seven countries of the region, viz, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it cuts acr…
I was twenty. A wintry dawn filled the sky above the low buildings of Shino-In, a small Buddhist temple forming part of the main monastery complex of the Shingon sect situated at the top of Mount Koya in Japan. In the silent room of tatami mats, plastered walls and paper windows, beside my futon, my tea, left in a cup from the night before, had frozen solid. I had not slept much; it had been to…
This book is not a traditional symposium in which each writer submits a chapter or chapters on a particular geographical area of the region. Rather, it is a work in which each scholar can take equal pride in the entire production because it was a joint intellectual pursuit.
This report, jointly sponsored by SIPRI and the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA), draws together the work of eight experts on armaments and Asia-Pacific security affairs to present analysis and extensive data on arms and defence related tranparency mechanisms in South-East Asia. It also includes a de facto arms trade re gister for South-East Asia covering the period 1975-96. The book will …
This book on political leadership in underdeveloped Africa and Asia as- sumes that a ruler's first desire is to retain his position at the apex of government while others press to displace him. THE RULER'S IMPERATIVE asks: Once positioned at the apex, what must a ruler do to remain in power and pursue more effectively the nation- building goals he sets for himself and his polity? How can he act…
This book describes the links between business and politics in Southeast Asia, an unseen system of business favouritism that lies behind the myth of free market enterprise. At a broader level, my central point is this: despite the glitter, Southeast Asia's prosperity rests on shaky foundations and depends on external forces well beyond its control. The region's growth, in its essence, results p…
This stimulating book calls attention to the growth of an inefficient superlayer in the economies of South-East Asia and invites the reader to think about the problems this poses to economic development in the future. The author argues that technological backwardness, the low quality of government intervention, and discrimination against those pf Chinese descent have prevented capitalism from s…