The Power of Ideas: Intellectual Input and Political Change in East and Southeast Asia

edited by Claudia Derichs and Thomas Heberer

This book brings a new approach to the study of political change in East and Southeast Asia and demonstrates the importance of political ideas behind policies and politics. The traditional approach to studying the politics of a region is to focus on events, personalities, issues – the mechanics of the political process. What this volume looks to do is to step back and examine ideas and visions, as well as those who articulate them and/or put them into operation. The contributors thus aim to conceptualize what discourse means for political change in East and Southeast Asia, and how ideas in discourses affect political practice. As well as theorizing on the roles of intellectuals, ideas and discourses for processes of democratization, reform and change, the chapters also offer deep insights into the national and local, the general and the specific situation of the selected countries.

Dr. Claudia Derichs has a wide range of focal points, including East and South East Asia, the Near and Middle East, political Islam and Gender Studies.

Publication year: 2006
332 pp / 235mm x 157mm
5 figures, 3 tables
ISBN: 978-87-91114-81-6, Hardback

NIAS Press