Understanding Australia's Neighbours: An Introduction to East and Southeast Asia

Understanding Australia's Neighbours is a comprehensive introduction to the study of Asia. Written thematically, it provides comparisons between Asian and Australian societies and encourages readers to think about Australia's neighbours across a wide range of social, economic and historical contexts. Topics covered include: • The nature of tradition and modernity • Change to the family and religion • The role of colonialism and nationalism in political change • Nation-building • Economic development • International politics • Globalisation • Democracy and human rights. Fully revised and updated, it covers the region's response to the global financial crisis, war on terror and climate change. It features a brand new chapter on the rise of China, its changing dynamic with Japan and the US and what this means for the broader region and Australia. Written in an accessible and informative way, this is a book for all Australians who seek a better understanding of Australia's neighbours in East and Southeast Asia.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: thinking about Asia, thinking about Australia; 1. The idea of 'Asia': Australia's 'Near North' - East and Southeast Asia; 2. Tradition and modernity in East and Southeast Asia: the family; 3. Tradition and modernity in East and Southeast Asia: religion; 4. Colonialism in East and Southeast Asia: how important was the impact of the West?; 5. Nationalism and revolution in East and Southeast Asia; 6. Nations and nation-building in East and Southeast Asia; 7. International politics and East and Southeast Asia: The Cold War and the Sino-Soviet split; 8. Economic growth in East and Southeast Asia: the Japanese economic 'miracle' and the newly industrialized economies; 9. Democracy, human rights, and development; 10. Globalisation and East and Southeast Asia (with Daniel Halvorson); 11. China-Japan relations and US Power in the twenty-first century; 12. Australia in Asia, 'Asia' in Australia.

About the Author :
Professor Nick Knight, now retired, has written extensively on the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is Australia's foremost authority on the thought of Mao Zedong. His research has emphasized the period of the 1920s and 1930s, but includes analysis of the way in which Mao's thought has been interpreted and deployed politically in the post-Mao period. Knight's research has made a major contribution to the theoretical development of the field of Mao studies. Nick Knight's books and monographs include (with Colin Mackerras, eds.) Marxism in Asia (1985), Philosophy and Politics in Mao Texts of the Yan'an Period (1987–8), Mao Zedong on Dialectical Materialism: Writings on Philosophy, 1937 (1990), The Philosophical Thought of Mao Zedong: Studies from China, 1981–1989 (1992), Li Da and Marxist Philosophy in China (1996), (with Arif Dirlik and Paul Healy, eds.) Critical Perspectives on Mao Zedong's Thought (1997), Thinking about Asia: An Australian Introduction to East and Southeast Asia (2000), Understanding Australia's Neighbours: An Introduction to East and Southeast Asia (2004), Marxist Philosophy in China: From Qu Qiubai to Mao Zedong, 1923–1945 (2005), Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong Thought (2007), (with Michael Heazle eds), China-Japan Relations in the Twenty-first Century: Towards a Future Past? (2007), Imagining Globalisation in China: Debates on Ideology, Politics and Culture (2008). Nick Knight's articles appeared in many journals, including China Quarterly, China Information, Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Journal of Oriental Studies, Asian Studies Review, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and China - An International Journal. Nick Knight was the China Editor of the Asian Studies Review from 1997–2005. Nick Knight taught Asian Studies at Griffith University between 1981 and 2008. He devised and taught a popular first year course, entitled 'An introduction to Asia', on which Understanding Aust Dr Michael Heazle is an Associate Professor with the Griffith Asia Institute and Department of International Business and Asian Studies where he teaches international relations and politics. Prior to his return to Australia in 2003, Dr Heazle taught a variety of subjects in the faculties of Economics and Business Administration at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. He has researched and published in the areas of energy, human, and environmental security; policy making and the treatment of specialist advice; and China-Japan relations. From 1992 to 2000, Dr Heazle was a regular contributor to the Far Eastern Economic Review, and wrote for a number of other domestic and international publications including The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, The Courier Mail and The Australian. He is the author of Scientific Uncertainty and the Politics of Whaling (University of Washington Press, 2006), and co-editor and contributor to three edited volumes (Beyond the Iraq War: The Promises, Pitfalls, and Perils of External Interventionism, China-Japan Relations in the Twenty First Century: Creating a Future Past? and Foreign Policy Challenges in the 21st Century). His most recent book is Uncertainty in Policy Making: Values and Evidence in Complex Decisions.