Although Asia has a long history of governance practices, its modern governance systems have been profoundly influenced by the Western models. This book explores how the declining economic and political influences on the global stage of the USA and Europe has significantly reduced developing countries’ confidence in the public governance models promoted by the Western world. As academics have begun to challenge the assuredness of the conventional logic of ‘Western = Global = Best’, scholarship has also grown on the contextualized governance experiences in Asia.


This timely volume explores the emergence of Asian models of governance, taking into account the shifting global political economic landscape and the region’s rapid growth in recent decades. Could there be Asian models of governance that are distinct from the Western ones? If so, what are the key characteristics? The authors examine the potentials and challenges of Asian models of governance based on empirical studies from various Asian societies, ranging from Singapore and South Korea to Myanmar and Vietnam. As well as theoretical explorations, the book also provides rich empirical evidence on the contextualized lessons accumulated in Asia, offering a more nuanced understanding of Asian governance experience through comparative case studies.


This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Asian Public Policy which was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education AcRF Tier 2 Grant entitled “Transnational Knowledge Transfer and Dynamic Governance in Comparative Perspective”.