The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by China in 2013, carries and projects powerful regional dimensions and transformations, with short- and long-term global, national and local consequences. The BRI’s regional significance lies in its designation and creation of several cross-border corridors that originate from inside China and extend out into its neighbouring countries, and those farther afield in Asia, Africa and Europe. Through driving and facilitating new trade and infrastru...

As do other mighty forces such as wars, nationalist aspirations, and the shifting courses of great rivers, globalization changes the world's borders by bending them out of shape and creating new transnational spaces. State political boundaries no longer draw the definitive line in people's lives they once did. Borders continue to contain self-described national populations and national activities, but the penetration of economic globalization via growing cross-border trade, investment, and...

The first book to explore the historical development of Belgian politics, this groundbreaking study of the rivalry between Catholicism, Socialism and nationalism is essential reading for anyone interested in Europe before World War I.

This pathbreaking, multidisciplinary work challenges our unthinking acceptance of such terms as 'Asia Pacific' and 'Pacific Rim.' Clarifying the hidden power relationships and hegemonic struggles that are disguised by ideological constructions of the region, the contributors uncover fundamental contradictions_including the human costs and consequences_that underlie the much-celebrated economic boom. In evaluating the idea of 'Asia Pacific,' the book shifts our focus from abstract relations...

The revised and updated second edition of Introduction to Citiesexplores why cities are such a vital part of the human experience and how they shape our everyday lives. Written in engaging and accessible terms, Introduction to Citiesexamines the study of cities through two central concepts: that cities are places, where people live, form communities, and establish their own identities, and that they are spaces, such as the inner city and the sub...

Understanding how cities shape human life through space and placeCities function as dynamic systems where physical space, social forces, and human experience intersect. Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience, Third Edition, provides a robust analytical framework for understanding these relationships. Written by three distinguished urban scholars, this updated edition addresses contemporary challenges including global migration p...

Confronting Urban Legacy fills a critical lacuna in urban scholarship. As almost all of the literature focuses on global cities and megacities, smaller, secondary cities, which actually hold the majority of the world’s population, are either critically misunderstood or unexamined in their entirety. This neglect not only biases scholars’ understanding of social and spatial dynamics toward very large global cities but also maintains a void in students’ learning. This book specifically explor...

With the ‘Asian Century’ now upon us, bringing with it many profound economic and political changes to the world order, it is very timely to assess the state of democracy in the Asian region. Focusing on Eastern Asia, this book provides such a review, highlighting lines of connections between the states and peoples of this complex and dynamic region.Featuring chapters on China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodi...

Contemporary Myanmar faces a number of political challenges, and it is unclear how other nations should act in relation to the country. Prioritizing the opinions of local citizens and reading them against the latest scholarship on this issue, Ian Holliday affirms the importance of foreign interests in Myanmar's democratic awakening, yet only through committed, grassroots strategies of engagement encompassing foreign states, international aid agencies, and global corporations.Hollid...

East Asian democracies are in trouble, their legitimacy threatened by poor policy performance and undermined by nostalgia for the progrowth, soft-authoritarian regimes of the past. Yet citizens throughout the region value freedom, reject authoritarian alternatives, and believe in democracy.This book is the first to report the results of a large-scale survey-research project, the East Asian Barometer, in which eight research teams conducted national-sample surveys in five new democr...

With around 40 million people worldwide, the ethnic Chinese and the Chinese in diaspora form the largest diaspora in the world. The economic reform of China which began in the late 1970s marked a huge phase of migration from China, and the new migrants, many of whom were well educated, have had a major impact on the local societies and on China.This is the first interdisciplinary Handbook to examine the Chinese diaspora, and provides a comprehensive analysis of the processes and ef...

China's growth in the past few decades has been unprecedented, and continues to stay strong as it expands its influence around the globe. However, in many ways, the once insular China is still looking to find its footing as an international player in the globalization game. Greater China in an Era of Globalization looks at the success of China and its surrounding territories of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau and asks the question "What is Chinese globalization?". The contributors in...