Asian Freedoms: The Idea of Freedom in East and Southeast Asia

by Edited by David Kelly , Anthony Reid

• ISBN13: 9780521637572
• ISBN10: 0521637570
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-06-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book argues that Western ideas of freedom have become widely accepted in Asia as the key determinant for measuring a range of legal, ethical and political practices. The book finds that modern conceptions of freedom have become adapted to local contexts throughout Asia. The book avoids cultural relativism and generalizations, but does find a number of common ideas relating to freedom across the region. A prestigious group of contributors explores freedom from historical, religious, political and ideological perspectives.

Table of Contents

1. Freedom: a Eurasian mosaic David Kelly

2. Buddhism and freedom Ian Mabbett

3. Freedom and freehold: space, people and state simplification in Southeast Asia Jim Scott

4. Chine and freedom Bill Jenner

5. Freedom and the family: gendering Meiji political thought Vera Mackie

6. The Chinese search for freedom as a universal value David Kelly

7. Merdeka: the concept of freedom in Indonesia Tony Reid

8. Slavery and modernity: freedom in the making of modern Siam Thanet Aphornsuvan

9. The idea of freedom in Burma and the political thought of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Josef Silverstein

10. Freedom and elite political theory in Vietnam before the French Alexander Woodside.