Changing Governance and Public Policy in East Asia

The search for good governance has become an increasingly important element of public policy and public management and is high on the political agenda of East Asian countries. The need for robust governance structures and institutions was brought into sharp focus by the Asian Financial Crisis which adversely affected most East Asian societies. Since then they have begun to look for ways to restructure their public administration and political systems in order to develop new mechanisms and structures to promote good governance. This book focuses on how selected Asian states have responded to the growing impact of "liberalizing and marketizing trends" in public policy formulation and public management. To what extent is the "state-guided" regime in Asia still relevant to governing public policy / public management? What are the policy implications for a growing number of Asian states which are pursuing more pro-competition policy instruments? The book is a timely and important collection that offers critical analysis of the search for new governance in Asia and compares and contrasts experiences in selected Asian societies such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and other parts of South East Asia. Chapters are written by leading scholars in the fields of comparative development, policy and governance studies from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Ka Ho Mok is Associate Dean and Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong. He has researched and published in the fields of comparative education, public policy and governance and social development in East Asia. Most recently, he has been appointed as Visiting Professor of University of Bristol, Distinguished Professor of National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan and International Advisor of the National Taiwan University.

Ray Forrest is Professor of Urban Studies and Associate Director of CEAS. He is also co-director (with Professor Ade Kearns, University of Glasgow) of the ESRC Centre for Neighbourhood Research. Ray is currently a Visiting Professor at the Department of Urban Studies at Glasgow University and Adjunct Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. He has published extensively on urban and housing issues and his current research interests focus on the role and meaning of neighbourhood in the contemporary city; housing markets, the macro economy and globalization; housing policy and social inequalities.