The collection opens with a review of constitutionalism in Asia and the United States and concludes with a recent examination of Japan's rejection of war: 'Japan's Constitutional Discourse and Performance'. By way of Afterword, the author offers an in-depth review of 'Globalization of Human Rights in the 21st Century'.

Lawrence Ward Beer was born in Portland, Oregon on May 11, 1932. In 1966 he received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington, Seattle. In over fifty years of studying the constitutional law and politics of Japan and other Asian countries, he has written and lectured extensively on human rights law (e.g., Freedom of Expression in Japan, 1984). He taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder, 1966-1982, and was F.M. Kirby Professor of Civil Rights, Lafayette College, 1982-1997. Beer has chaired the Committee on Asian Law of the Association for Asian Studies and the World Association of Law Professors of the World Peace through Law Center. He received the Distinguished Asianist Award of the Mid-Atlantic Association for Asian Studies in 2003. In retirement, he lives with his wife Keiko in Boulder, Colorado, USA.