Asian Leadership in Policy and Governance examines contemporary challenges facing public leaders in Asia, providing insight into leadership processes and contexts past practices affecting effective governance and policy leadership. The book provides a broad range of insightful and detailed cases of international and domestic interest in East and Southeast Asia, and is relevant to all disciplines concerned with politics, public governance and public affairs. The cases cover such topics as regional development and integration, transnational migration, and domestic topics of economic, political...

South Korea is renowned as one of the success stories of fast economic development. The Korean developmental state was a highly efficient, meritocratic, and fully monopolized coercive force. These resources were skilfully leveraged to shape the direction of private sector actors towards strategic initiatives. However, these very same resources could have resulted in the bureaucracy retaining its power indefinitely. Instead, step-by-step, the resources of the bureaucracy, which serviced the authoritarian leadership in the developmental period, were exercised towards democratization. What were...

This title explores ways in which bureaucracy may not only be compatible with democracy but, more ambitiously, the conditions under which it can enhance it, examining the systems and institutions of the Korean bureaucracy: the National Election Commission, the police force, local government, the ceiling recruitment strategy, and procurement policy.

This volume provides a unique insight into the ways local governments have maintained financial resilience in light of the significant challenges posed by the era of austerity. Taking an international perspective, it provides a practical analysis of the different capacities and responses that local governments deploy to cope with financial shocks.

Present day knowledge about public sector reforms in Asia is quite scattered and seldom focuses on the challenges of leadership. This book seeks to address this issue by presenting country cases that reflect the great diversity of the region.