Routledge Studies on Civil Society in Asia – serie

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.

(Un) Civil Society and Political Change in Indonesia provides critical analysis of Indonesia’s civil society and its impact on the country’s democratization efforts that does not only take the classical, pro-democratic actors of civil society into account but also portrays uncivil groups and their growing influence on political processes.Beittinger-Lee offers a revised categorization of civil society, including a model to define the sphere of ‘uncivil society’ more closely and to identify several subcategories of uncivil society. This is the first book to portrays various uncivil groups in Indonesia, ranging from vigilantes, militias, paramilitaries, youth groups, civil security task forces and militant Islamic (and other religious) groups, ethnonationalist groups to terrorist organizations and groups belonging to organized crime. Moreover, it provides the reader with an overview of Indonesia’s history, its political developments after the democratic opening, main improvements under the various presidents since Suharto’s fall, constitutional amendments and key reforms in human rights legislation.This book will be of interest to upper level undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in political science and Southeast Asian studies.

Professionals are a growing group in China and increasingly make their presence felt in governance and civil society. At the same time, however, professionals in the West are under increasing pressure from commercialism or scepticism about their ability to rise above self-interest. This book focuses on professionals in China and asks whether developing countries have a fateful choice: to embrace Western models of professional organization as they now exist, or to set off on an independent path, adapting elements of Western practices to their own historical and cultural situation. In doing so, the authors in this volume discuss a wealth of issues, including: the historic antecedents of modern Chinese professionalism; the implications of professionalism as an import in China; the impact of socialism, the developmental state and rampant commercialism on the professions in China; and the feasibility of liberal professions in an illiberal state. To conclude, the book considers whether there might be an emerging professionalism with Chinese characteristics, and how this might have an impact on the professions elsewhere.Prospects for the Professions in China will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, law, sociology, medical studies and cultural studies.

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.

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.

(Un) Civil Society and Political Change in Indonesia provides critical analysis of Indonesia’s civil society and its impact on the country’s democratization efforts that does not only take the classical, pro-democratic actors of civil society into account but also portrays uncivil groups and their growing influence on political processes.Beittinger-Lee offers a revised categorization of civil society, including a model to define the sphere of ‘uncivil society’ more closely and to identify several subcategories of uncivil society. This is the first book to portrays various uncivil groups in Indonesia, ranging from vigilantes, militias, paramilitaries, youth groups, civil security task forces and militant Islamic (and other religious) groups, ethnonationalist groups to terrorist organizations and groups belonging to organized crime. Moreover, it provides the reader with an overview of Indonesia’s history, its political developments after the democratic opening, main improvements under the various presidents since Suharto’s fall, constitutional amendments and key reforms in human rights legislation.This book will be of interest to upper level undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in political science and Southeast Asian studies.

Professionals are a growing group in China and increasingly make their presence felt in governance and civil society. At the same time, however, professionals in the West are under increasing pressure from commercialism or scepticism about their ability to rise above self-interest. This book focuses on professionals in China and asks whether developing countries have a fateful choice: to embrace Western models of professional organization as they now exist, or to set off on an independent path, adapting elements of Western practices to their own historical and cultural situation. In doing so, the authors in this volume discuss a wealth of issues, including: the historic antecedents of modern Chinese professionalism; the implications of professionalism as an import in China; the impact of socialism, the developmental state and rampant commercialism on the professions in China; and the feasibility of liberal professions in an illiberal state. To conclude, the book considers whether there might be an emerging professionalism with Chinese characteristics, and how this might have an impact on the professions elsewhere.Prospects for the Professions in China will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, law, sociology, medical studies and cultural studies.