Insights To East Asia Bridging The Past And Present Um Press

The East Asian region continues to experience rapid transformation, revealing both dynamic changes as well as unresolved issues. This innovative book is a valuable resource in understanding the extent to which countries in East Asia are confronting old and new challenges. Similarly, at the regional level, the book tackles the trials in consolidating East Asia as a region. Within this context, Insights to East Asia provides an introduction to a wide ranging array of issues, actors, and institutions interacting inside and outside the region. The book reflects the diverse ways in which state and non - state actors are responding to numerous concerns. The complexity of issues is unravelled through an informed analysis of contemporary concerns that include the development of East Asian regionalism, impact of China’s foreign aid on Timor Leste, the competition from Chinese manufacturers to their South Korean counterparts, protracted North Korean denuclearisation, the influence of pressure groups in Japanese politics as well as the dilemma of an emerging plural society in Japan. By reflecting on these key issues, students, scholars and policy practitioners will nd that the book engages readers to think critically of the ever-changing East Asian landscape.

"Drawing on work in a range of disciplines-including history, anthropology, demography, development, environmental studies, political studies, health, sociology and the arts-this work approaches East Asia from new perspectives.The book looks at contemporary Japan and Korea and focuses on many facets of Chinese culture, artistic production, economic development, digital issues, education and international collaboration" -

A balanced, accessible, and authoritative account of the history of Southeast Asia from ancient to contemporary times.

An account of South-east Asia since ancient times, covering traditional history as well as current events.

Beginning in 2005 as a small electoral reform initiative, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, known as Bersih, became the most prominent social movement in Malaysia. Based on participant observation approach and first-hand interviews with key actors, this book examines how Bersih became a movement that aggregated the collective grievance of Malaysians and brought Malaysian sociopolitical activism to a new level. This book makes a major contribution to the scholarly work on social movement theories in the Southeast Asian context and to the growing literature on social movements and democratization.

In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

Marking a constructivist turn in Africa-China scholarship, this book explores African constructions of China. Using Ghana and Kenya as case studies, the book outlines the role of diverse state and non-state actors in defining what China represents to the region, and how it compares to Western powers. Resisting Sino- and state-centric analysis of China-Africa relations, this book emphasises the importance of African agency in shaping the discourse. The book demonstrates that the identity construction of a foreign state such as China takes place both at the international level, and at a domestic, intrastate level. Domestic constructions of China in Ghana and Kenya reflect internal tensions about future directions for African political and socio-economic development, and these constructions in turn help to justify government policies towards China. The book concludes by questioning the idea of a straightforward win-win relationship, and suggests that exploitative, hierarchical relations conventionally associated with North-South interactions may continue in South-South relations. This book’s important analysis of the role of domestic non-state actors in shaping African policymaking extends much needed nuance to a sometimes polarised debate. It will be of interest to researchers across the fields of politics, international relations, global development, and African and Chinese Studies.