Social Development in Asia : Diversity and Implications

Asia is the most populated continent of the world, known for its ancient civilizations, origin of religions as well as its recent history of colonization. While Asia is known for its fast economic development and explanations for it are sought in an ‘Asian development model’ and ‘Asian values’, this region is also known for the largest number of poor people in the world.

The aim of the book is to carry out a comparative study of social development in Asian sub-regions to explore the following questions:

•What is the status of social development in Asia with reference to progress, gaps and contradictions if any?
•Is social development in Asian sub-regions homogenous or diverse?
•Why is Asia rising? Is it a miracle? What factors explain the diversity in social development progress across Asian sub-regions?
•Are there Asian values or development approaches that cut across Asian sub-regions? What are they and what determine them?
•What does Asia and the Asian sub-regions need to do for better progress in social development?
•What are the implications for international social development if Asia is rising?
The book is prepared for a comprehensive understanding of social development in Asia so that it can feed into policy planning of development systems and teaching social development in Asian countries as well as in other countries interested in Asian social development. (jacket)