Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia

Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia
Author: Benjamin L. Read
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2009-06-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134006683

This edited collection brings together enterprising pieces of new research on the many forms of organization in East and Southeast Asia that are sponsored or mandated by government, but engage widespread participation at the grassroots level. Straddling the state-society divide, these organizations play important roles in society and politics, yet remain only dimly understood. This book shines a spotlight on this phenomenon, which speaks to fundamental questions about how such societies choose to organize themselves, how institutions of local governance change over time, and how individuals respond to and make use of the power of the state. The contributors investigate organizations ranging from volunteer-based organizations that partner with government in providing services for homeless children, to state-managed networks of neighborhood- or village-level associations that perform representative as well as administrative functions and seeks to answer a number of questions: When do the "vertical," top-down imperatives of the state stifle "horizontal" solidarities, and when might the two work in harmony? Are useful social and administrative purposes served by this type of fusion? Does it amplify or merely muffle citizens’ voices? What does it tell us about existing accounts of community, social capital, "synergy," "complementarity," "subsidiarity," and related concepts? Representing seven countries: China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Singapore this volume will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in Asian studies, political science, sociology, anthropology, development, history, nonprofit studies.

Roots of the State

Roots of the State
Author: Benjamin Read
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2012-04-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0804782032

Most social science studies of local organizations tend to focus on "civil society" associations, voluntary associations independent from state control, whereas government-sponsored organizations tend to be theorized in totalitarian terms as "mass organizations" or manifestations of state corporatism. Roots of the State examines neighborhood associations in Beijing and Taipei that occupy a unique space that exists between these concepts. Benjamin L. Read views the work of the neighborhood associations he studies as a form of "administrative grassroots engagement." States sponsor networks of organizations at the most local of levels, and the networks facilitate governance and policing by building personal relationships with members of society. Association leaders serve as the state's designated liaisons within the neighborhood and perform administrative duties covering a wide range of government programs, from welfare to political surveillance. These partly state-controlled entities also provide a range of services to their constituents. Neighborhood associations, as institutions initially created to control societies, may underpin a repressive regime such as China's, but they also can evolve to empower societies, as in Taiwan. This book engages broad and much-discussed questions about governance and political participation in both authoritarian and democratic regimes.

Neighbourhood Governance in Urban China

Neighbourhood Governance in Urban China
Author: Ngai-Ming Yip
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2014-05-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1781000247

Neighbourhood governance is a multifaceted concept that cuts across academic disciplines and intersects an array of policy areas. Therefore this book will find a wide audience amongst public and social policy academics, particularly those with an inter

Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia

Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia
Author: Carl Middleton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2017-11-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317645162

This book contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between migration, vulnerability, resilience and social justice associated with flooding across diverse environmental, social and policy contexts in Southeast Asia. It challenges simple analyses of flooding as a singular driver of migration, and instead considers the ways in which floods figure in migration-based livelihoods and amongst already mobile populations. The book develops a conceptual framework based on a ‘mobile political ecology’ in which particular attention is paid to the multidimensionality, temporalities and geographies of vulnerability. Rather than simply emphasising the capacities (or lack thereof) of individuals and households, the focus is on identifying factors that instigate, manage and perpetuate vulnerable populations and places: these include the sociopolitical dynamics of floods, flood hazards and risky environments, migration and migrant-based livelihoods and the policy environments through which all of these take shape. The book is organised around a series of eight empirical urban and rural case studies from countries in Southeast Asia, where lives are marked by mobility and by floods associated with the region’s monsoonal climate. The concluding chapter synthesises the insights of the case studies, and suggests future policy directions. Together, the chapters highlight critical policy questions around the governance of migration, institutionalised disaster response strategies and broader development agendas.

Southeast Asia and the Civil Society Gaze

Southeast Asia and the Civil Society Gaze
Author: Gabi Waibel
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2013-11-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134634293

As developing countries with recent histories of isolation and extreme poverty, followed by restoration and reform, both Cambodia and Vietnam have seen new opportunities and demands for non-state actors to engage in and manage the effects of rapid socio-economic transformation. This book examines how in both countries, civil society actors and the state manage their relationship to one another in an environment that is continuously shaped and (re)constructed by changing legislation, collaboration and negotiation, advocacy and protest, and social control. Further, it explores the countries’ divergent experiences whilst also uncovering the underlying basis and drivers of civil society activity that are shared by Cambodia and Vietnam. Crucially, this book engages with the contested nature of civil society and how it is socially constructed through research and development activities, by looking at contemporary discourses and manifestations of civil society in the two countries, including national and community-level organisations, associations, and networks that operate in a variety of sectors, such as gender, the environment and health. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in Cambodia and Vietnam, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Southeast Asian studies, Southeast Asian politics, development studies and civil society.

Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond

Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond
Author: Mely Caballero-Anthony
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2018-12-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0231544499

The threats the world currently faces extend beyond traditional problems such as major power competition, interstate conflict, and nuclear proliferation. Non-traditional security challenges such as climate change, migration, and natural disasters surpass states’ capacity to address them. These limitations have led to the proliferation of other actors—regional and international organizations, transnational networks, local and international nongovernmental organizations—that fill the gaps when states’ responses are lacking and provide security in places where there is none. In this book, Mely Caballero-Anthony examines how non-traditional security challenges have changed state behavior and security practices in Southeast Asia and the wider East Asia region. Referencing the wide range of transborder security threats confronting Asia today, she analyzes how non-state actors are taking on the roles of “security governors,” engaging with states, regional organizations, and institutional frameworks to address multifaceted problems. From controlling the spread of pandemics and transboundary pollution, to managing irregular migration and providing relief and assistance during humanitarian crises, Caballero-Anthony explains how and why non-state actors have become crucial across multiple levels—local, national, and regional—and how they are challenging regional norms and reshaping security governance. Combining theoretical discussions on securitization and governance with a detailed and policy-oriented analysis of important recent developments, Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond points us toward “state-plus” governance, where a multiplicity of actors form the building blocks for multilateral cooperative security processes to meet future global challenges.

Southeast Asia and the English School of International Relations

Southeast Asia and the English School of International Relations
Author: L. Quayle
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2013-01-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137026855

This book examines the interface between the theoretical framework known as the English School and the international and transnational politics of Southeast Asia. The region-theory dialogue it proposes signals productive ways forward for the theory.

Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019

Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9264305912

Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019 is the first edition in the Government at a Glance series for the region. It provides the latest available data on public administrations in the 10 ASEAN member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Civil Society Networks in China and Vietnam

Civil Society Networks in China and Vietnam
Author: A. Wells-Dang
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2012-07-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0230380212

This book brings a fresh, original approach to understand social action in China and Vietnam through the conceptual lens of informal environmental and health networks. It shows how citizens in non-democratic states actively create informal pathways for advocacy and the development of functioning civil societies.