Robert P. Weller is Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, USA

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Civil Institutions and the State 2. Development of NGOs under a Post-Totalitarian Regime: The Case of China 3. NGOs, the State, and Democracy under Globalization: The Case of Taiwan 4. Friends and Critics of the State: The Case of Hong Kong 5. Civil Associations and Autonomy under Three Regimes: The Boundaries of State and Society in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China 6. From State-Centric to Negotiated Governance: NGOs as Policy Entrepreneurs in South Korea 7. The Development of NGO Activities in Japan: A New Civil Culture and Institutionalization in Civic Action 8. The State, Local Associations, and Alternate Civilities in Rural Northern Vietnam 9. Non-Government Organizations and Democratic Transition in Indonesia 10. Constrained NGOs and Arrested Democratization in Singapore Index Notes on Contributors

Academics and policy makers have grown increasingly interested in the ways that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may encourage better governance, democratic politics, and perhaps ultimately a global civil society. In Civil Life, Globalization and Political Change in Asia, Robert Weller has brought together an international group of experts on the subject, whose chapters address these questions through a series of extensive case studies from East and Southeast Asia including Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.