The Power of Ideas

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.