Transition theory literature has been preoccupied with either identifying why democracy has not arrived or with how it can be consolidated where it has emerged. Most recently, arising out of the interest in consolidation, attention has turned to scrutinizing institutions for their democratic quality or lack thereof, not least within so-called hybrid regimes. However, such …
Democratisation – Special issue: Beyond Hybrid Regimes Read More »
Director in Action examines Johnnie To’s career, whose art-house action hits include A Hero Never Dies, The Longest Nite, Running out of Time, The Mission, PTU, Breaking News, Election, and Election 2. The author discusses the symbiotic relationship between director and genre, why To is regarded as an auteur, and the influence he has on …
Director in Action: Johnnie To and the Hong Kong Action Film Read More »
Economic Geography is a comprehensive introduction to this growing field, providing students with a vibrant and distinctive geographical insight into the economy. Contrasts a distinctively geographical approach with popular conceptions and assumptions in economics and management studies Debates a wide range of topics including economic discourses, uneven development, commodity chains, technology and agglomeration, the commodification of …
BY THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY, Islam had come to be the religious element in Javanese identity. But it was a particular kind of Islam, here called the ‘mystic synthesis’. This Javanese mysticism had three notable characteristics: Javanese held firmly to their identity as Muslims, they carried out he basic ritual obligations of the faith, but …
Polarising Javanese Society: Islamic and Other Visions, c. 1830-1930 Read More »
Angkor, Cambodia’s only World Heritage Site, is enduring one of the most crucial, turbulent periods in its twelve hundred year history. Given Cambodia’s need to restore its shattered social and physical infrastructures after decades of violent conflict, and with tourism to Angkor increasing by a staggering 10,000 per cent in just over a decade, the …
Pragmatism is the golden thread running through American social thought and is often seen as the quintessential philosophical tradition of American liberal democracy. Whereas pragmatism was committed to clarity and simplicity of its ideas, European social theory has been seen by its critics as deliberately vague, abstract and obscure. The essays collected in Pragmatism and …
Large numbers of women in Asia engage in paid work, in many cases outside the home. Some of them simply need to support their families. Others, particularly educated women, hope to develop rewarding careers. Many of these women also continue to shoulder the home and family responsibilities that social and cultural norms define as their …
Working and Mothering in Asia: Images, Ideologies and Identities Read More »
Contemporary understandings of class provide diverse interpretations of the concept. This paper proposes a four-part typology to make sense of this diversity, with class rendered as ‘position’, ‘process’, ‘performance’ and ‘politics’. Each highlights a distinct dimension of class, but all are closely related. The paper then examines the ways in which class as position/process/performance/politics is complicated in …
WPS 90 Filipino Migration, Transnationalism and Class Identity Read More »
Diaspora studies have undergone a sea change in recent years. Skilled diasporas as a subset of diasporas have drawn the maximum attention as the developed countries have started to vie for talent from the global supply of human capital rather than relying mainly on the supply of knowledge workers in their home population. As a …
