Human Rights in Asia A Reassessment of the Asian Values Debate

by Kingsbury, Damien; Avonius, Leena

• ISBN13: 9780230606395
• ISBN10: 0230606393
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book offers a critical reassessment of the "Asian values" debate, which dominated the human rights discourse in the late 1990s, and a reappraisal of the human rights situation in Asia since then. The chapters in this book contextualize the 'Asian values' debate and examine in what ways the issues raised then continue to trouble Asian societies.

Author Biography

Leena Avonius is Senior Researcher at the Asia-Pacific Studies of the Renvall Institute, University of Helsinki.  She received her PhD in anthropology at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2004. In her PhD thesis she examined radical local responses to the political changes after the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998. In 2005-2006 she worked as an EU-monitor of the Aceh peace process, and has written several articles on post-conflict processes in Aceh.  Currently, she teaches anthropology and Asian studies at the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on the localization of human rights discourse in Indonesia.

Associate Professor Damien Kinsgbury is Associate Head (Research) of the School of International and Political Studies at Deakin University, where he also teaches in international development. In 2005, Dr Kingsbury was adviser to the Free Aceh Movement in the successful Helsinki peace talks, and has since advised other separatist organizations on achieving negotiated settlements to their claims. Dr Kingsbury is author and editor of several books, including: 'Political Development' 2007, 'South-East Asia: A Political Profile', 2nd ed, 2005. 'The Politics of Indonesia', 3rd ed.2005. 'Key Issues in Development' (co-author), 2004.

 

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Note on Contributors	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Universalism and Exceptionalism in "Asia"	p. 19
Asia Values? Why Not, But How?	p. 41
Human Rights from the Left: The Early Chinese Democracy Movement	p. 63
Chinese Values and Human Rights	p. 83
From Marsinah to Munir: Grounding Human Rights in Indonesia	p. 99
From "Asian Values" to Singapore Exceptionalism	p. 121
Human Rights in Thailand: Rhetoric or Substance on "Asian Values"	p. 141
"Asian Values," Gender, and Culture-Specific Development	p. 159
The Nation-State and Its Violence: Debates in Post-Cold War Japan	p. 183
Walking the Line between the "War on Terror" and the Defense of Human Rights	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 225
Index	p. 249
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