In the context of increasingly multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-ethnic modern societies, the achievement of harmony is emerging as a major challenge. This book examines the idea of harmony, and its place in politics and governance, both in theory and practice, in Asia, the West and elsewhere.

Part 1: Introduction 1. Why Governance for Harmony? Part 2: Governance for Harmony in East--West Traditions 2. The Confucian Conception of Harmony 3. Harmony as a Guiding Principle for Governance 4. Harmony in Government Part 3: The Quest for Harmony in Government in Asia 5. Harmony, Conformity or Timidity? Singapore's Overachievement in the Quest for Harmony 6. Harmony in Government--Society Governance: Problems, Challenges and Prospects in Malaysia 7. Risks in Adopting Modernization as the Way to Build a Harmonious Society in Modern China 8. Governance for Harmony: Challenges for Public Service Delivery Reform in China and Vietnam 9. Restoring Governability in Hong Kong: Managing Plurality and Joining Up Governance Part 4: The Quest for Harmony Beyond Asia: Interplay of Culture and Institution from Confucian and Liberal Perspectives 10. Open Politics and Disharmony - Rockman, Bert A. 11. Disharmony and Civil Society: A View from Latin America 12. Consensual but Not Confucian: Resolving the Paradox of Consensual Politics in Scandinavia 13. Harmony through Network Governance? 14. Can the Confucian Way Lead Us out of the Paradox of Trust in Democracy? 15. Propriety, Law and Harmony: A Functional Argument for the Rule of Virtue 16. Xunzi's Vision of Society: Harmony by Justice 17. Concordia versus Pax: The Impact of Eastern Governance for Harmony on Western Peace Concepts

Julia Tao is Professor in the Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong. Anthony B. L. Cheung is President of The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and Chair Professor of Public Administration. He is the co-editor of Governance and Public Sector Reform in Asia: Paradigm Shift or Business As Usual? (also published by Routledge). Martin Painter is Chair Professor of Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong. He is the co-editor of Challenges to State Policy Capacity. Chenyang Li is Professor of Philosophy at Central Washington University, USA.