Globalization is a defining feature of our times, covering everything from economic and political issues to the spread of American culture. Its status is controversial, however with some viewing it as leading to greater development for all, while others see it as a threat to national cultures and democratic political life. This book shows how simplified such binary views are, and examines how various globalizing forces have affected Asian societies. It discusses the relationship between globalization, identity and democratic developments in Asia both theoretically and empirically, and aims to understand how economic, political and social forces interact and are mutually reinforced in Asian societies.

Part 1 Introduction; Chapter 1 Analyzing the global-local nexus, Catarina Kinnvall; Part 2 Approaching globalization; Chapter 2 Globalization and the twilight of Asian exceptionalism, Lowell Dittmer; Chapter 3 Globalization and democratic governance, Aswini K. Ray; Part 3 Globalization, democracy and civil society; Chapter 4 On alien Western democracy, Edward Friedman; Chapter 5 Imported democracy, Geir Helgesen; Chapter 6 What sort of democracy, Richard Robison; Chapter 7 Globalization, authoritarian regimes and political change, Kristina Jönsson; Chapter 8 Social movements, civil society and democracy in Japan, Hugo Dobson; Chapter 9 Globalization, democratization and civil society in Southeast Asia, Anders Uhlin; Part 4 Identity and citizenship in a glocalized Asia; Chapter 10 Democratic citizenship and minority rights, Bishnu N. Mohapatra; Chapter 11 Globalization and democratic developments in Southeast Asia, A.B. Shamsul; Chapter 12 Global imaginings, the state's quest for hegemony, and the pursuit of phantom freedom in China, Vivienne Shue; Chapter 13 Appropriating the global within the local, Michael Jacobsen; Part 5 Conclusion; Chapter 14 The global-local nexus revisited, Catarina Kinnvall, Kristina Jönsson;

Catarina Kinnvall is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden. She has written extensively on globalization and identity in India and China. She is also the author of Cultural Diffusion and Political Learning: The Democratization of China and Globalization and the Construction of Identity: Democracy, Diversity and Nationhood in India.,
Kristina Jösson is a Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden. She is currently researching how foreign ideas and policies are spread and translated into domestic practices, with special focus on the pharmaceutical sector in Laos and Vietnam.