In recent years, the slogan "women's rights are human rights" has become a central claim of the of the global women's movement. Human Rights and Gender Politics: Asia-Pacific Perspectives examines the critical issues raised by this embracing and expansion of the human rights discourse by feminists worldwide.
This volume challenges the conventional, ungendered and male-centred analysis of the politics of human rights and addresses the future of global feminisms. It is essential reading for all those interested in learning more about human rights and women's rights in the...

This volume explores the influences of global environmental discourses, and local traditions and practices, in 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Two fundamental, interlocking questions are addressed: to what degree is a common environmental discourse emerging within the region?; and to what degree do environmental attitudes and behaviour remain embedded in local traditions and practices? Answers to these questions are sought on the basis of two parallel groups of studies. The first closely examines cultural influences in individual countries, including traditional attitudes to nature...

This text focuses on the challenges that an ageing Asia-Pacific population poses to economies and societies in the region. It considers the policies that have evolved to date to meet new demands, and how these will operate in the future.

In an era of changing demographics and values, this volume provides a cross-national and interdisciplinary perspective on the question of who cares for and about the elderly. The authors reflect on research studies, experimental programmes and personal experience in Japan and the US to explicitly compare how policies, practices and interpretations of elder care are evolving at the turn of the century.

Ian Neary looks in detail at the history of the introduction of human rights ideas into Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and examines how, and to what effect, state and society have incorporated the specific international standards on childrens' and patients' rights into legal systems and social practice.
This comprehensively researched, accessibly written book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Asian studies, human rights, sociology and politics.

Social Policy in East and South East Asia provides the first systematic comparison of the policy sectors of income maintenance, health, housing and education in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. It focuses particularly on the provision and financing arrangements of these four Asian newly industrialized economies and their outcomes in terms of adequacy, efficiency and equity, drawing on extensive primary research carried out by the author.
Locating the importance of Asian social policies in the wake of the recent financial crisis in the region, this work provides a...

Bringing together a group of international scholars, Directors of Urban Change in Asia examines who the 'directors' for urban change are in an eclectic mix of Asian cities. The books discusses how, in the majority of cases, urban change has come about primarily as the result of visionary leaders, on national, regional and local levels. It also makes clear that the less successful cities have tended to lack such leaders.

This book assesses the impact of globalization on the education systems of key East Asian countries. It discusses how far policy makers have changed education policies in response to what they perceive to be changes required in educational outcomes in order to equip their societies for new global conditions; it explores the impact of new approaches and ideologies related to globalization, such as marketization, privatization, governance changes, managerialism, economic rationalism and neo-liberalism; and it makes comparisons where appropriate across the region. The countries covered are...

The Asia-Pacific region has not only the greatest concentration of population but is, arguably, the future economic centre of the world. Epidemiological transition in the region is occurring much faster than it did in the West and many countries face the emerging problem of chronic diseases at the same time as they continue to grapple with communicable diseases.

This book explores how disease patterns and health problems in Asia and the Pacific, and collective responses to them, have been shaped over time by cultural, economic, social, demographic, environmental and...

Chronic diseases-cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes-are not only the principal cause of world-wide mortality but also are now responsible for a striking increase in the percentage of sickness in developing countries still grappling with the acute problems of infectious diseases. The "double disease burden" - the onset of significant mortality from chronic, non-communicable diseases while mortality from communicable diseases remains high - is a problem of developing countries. Developed countries had the historical "luxury" of dealing with chronic diseases...