You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Japan’s Asian diplomacy under Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. Under the Kantei-centred policymaking system, Shinzō Abe has implemented assertive foreign policies with a slogan of ‘diplomacy taking a panoramic perspective of the world’. The analyses in the book cover the traditional and emerging fields of national security and international political economy. While its empirical examination is based on field-specific research, it also incorporates the analysis of Japan’s bilateral relations with China, the US, India, and others. In addition, the book provides a solid, theory-driven analysis of Japan’s external policy and relations. In an i...
This is the first book on Asian countries’ strategies towards the EU. Since the introduction of Common Foreign and Security Policy in 1993 and the publication of the EU’s first strategic document on Asia one year later, hundreds of books and journal articles have been dedicated to the study of the EU policies towards Asia as a whole, or to individual Asian countries. However, very few of these researchers ever intended to explore the strategies of Asian countries, and Asian leaders’ mindsets, vis-à-vis the EU. Quite often, the policies of Asian countries towards the EU were simply interpreted as responses to the EU’s actions in Asia. Having been passive players for decades, Asian co...
Despite regionalism having developed into a global phenomenon, the European Union (EU) is still more often than not presented as the ’role-model of regionalism’ whose institutional designs and norms are adopted by other regional actors and organizations as part of a rather passive ’downloading process’. Reaching beyond such a Eurocentric perception, Mapping Agency provides an empirically rich ’African perspective’ on regionalisms in Sub-Saharan Africa. It adopts an actor-centred approach but departs from a rather simplified understanding of agency as exerting power and instead scrutinizes to what extent actors actually participate in or are excluded from processes of regionalism. The value of this volume derives from the inclusion of historical dimensions, its open multi-actor approach to both formal and informal processes and its comparative perspective within but also beyond Sub-Saharan Africa. The chapters offer a multifaceted picture of agency beyond disciplinary divides where the EU is one actor amongst many and where local, national, regional and global state and non-state actors shape - and sometimes break - processes of regionalisms in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Euro in the 21st Century clarifies the perception of the euro and empirically demonstrates that the euro has become a true common currency and the Eurozone a true optimal currency area, presenting, in turn, a model to imitate. In order to demonstrate this, this study analyzes the economic and monetary requirements and policies required to introduce a common currency as well as the theoretical underpinnings of both the European integration process and the historical economic, monetary, political, and social circumstances that favoured the creation of the economic and monetary union. Furthermore, this book sheds light on how the current economic and monetary circumstances are affecting the...
The sovereign power of the nation-state has been steadily eroding for decades under the pressure of multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and multiregional organizations such as the European Union. The increasing prominence of non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace and Human Rights Watch in times of crisis has also contributed, since the problems such groups address often extend beyond national borders and are thus difficult for national governments to manage alone. Multiregionalism and Multilateralism investigates these forces as they factor into political and economic relations between Asia and Europe.
EU studies increasingly recognize the salience of new regional insights. Hence, this collection of original essays provides a broad overview of regionalism, together with detailed analyses on the construction, activities, and implications of both established and emerging examples of formal political and economic organizations as well as informal regional entities and networks. Aimed at scholars and students interested in the continuing growth of regionalism, The Ashgate Research Companion to Regionalisms is a key resource to understanding the major debates in the field. Organized into three main sections, this volume deals with a wide range of issues covering the following important research...
This book examines the making of heritage in contemporary Japan, investigating the ways in which particular objects, practices and institutions are ascribed public recognition and political significance. Through detailed ethnographic and historical case studies, it analyses the social, economic, and even global political dimensions of cultural heritage. It shows how claims to heritage status in Japan stress different material qualities of objects, places and people - based upon their ages, originality and usage. Following on an introduction that thoroughly assesses the field, the ethnographic and historiographic case studies range from geisha; noh masks; and the tea ceremony; urban architect...
The wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean is in transition. What is being evinced is a situation of continuous volatility, centering on developments such as the ’Arab Spring,’ the Greek sovereign debt crisis, Islamic terrorism, the continuation of deadlock over the Cypriot and Palestinian Issues, significant energy finds in the Levantine Basin, concerns over nuclear proliferation and, more recently, the Syrian Civil War. At a systemic level, the move towards a regional multipolar reality has also contributed to volatility by creating a crescendo of antagonisms between all the major international actors who continuously strive for more influence, power and prestige. This collective pr...
Written by a team of international scholars from China, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK, this book provides interdisciplinary studies on the construction and transformation of Chinese national identity in the age of globalisation. It addresses a wide range of issues central to national identity in the context of Chinese culture, politics, economy and society, and explores a diverse set of topics including the formation of an embryonic form of national identity in the late Qing era, the influence of popular culture on national identity, globalisation and national identity, the interaction and discourse between ethnic identity and national identity, and identity construction among overseas Chinese. It highlights the latest developments in the field and offers a distinctive contribution to our knowledge and understanding of national identity.