Description
Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities examines how the concept of ‘post-politics’ has manifested across a range of Asian cities, and the impact this has had on state-society relationships in processes of urban governance.
This volume examines how the post-political framework—derived from the study of Western liberal democracies—applies to Asian cities. Appreciating that the region has undergone a distinctive trajectory of political development, and is currently governed under democratic or authoritarian regimes, the book articulates how post-political conditions have created obstacles or opportunities for civil society to assert its voice in urban governance. Chapters address the different ways in which Asian civil society groups strive to gain a stake in the development and management of cities, specifically by looking at their involvement in heritage and environmental governance, two inter-related components in discourses about establishing liveable cities for the future.
By providing in-depth case studies examining the varying degrees to which post-political ideologies have been enacted in urban governance across Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia, this book offers a useful and timely resource for students and scholars interested in urban studies, political science, Asian studies, geography, and sociology.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Theorising the post-political in Asian cities Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, And Kong Chong Ho
PART I Post-political governance in Asia
1. A return to the political?: Civil society and post-politics in authoritarian regimes David Matijasevich
2. Managing grievances in the age of post-politics: The relocation of communities for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Myanmar Tamas Wells
3. Emerging post-political city in Seoul U-Seok Seo
4. Back to the land: Post-political utopias of organic living Karl Beelan
PART II Post-politics in heritage governance
5. Between state and society: Heritage politics in urban China Yujie Zhu
6. ‘Connecting emotions through wells’: Heritage instrumentalisation, civic activism and urban sustainability in Quanzhou, China Yunci Cai
PART III Post-politics in environmental governance
7. Constructing space for participatory governance in Vietnam: Reflections from the Hanoi tree movement Seohee Kwak
8. Environmental civil activism in Central Asia: Emerging civil society governance and fragile relations with the state Reina Artur Kyzy
9. Post-political planning and insurgent mobilisation in the post-disaster city: The experience of Tacloban city, Philippines after typhoon Haiyan Dakila Kim P. Yee
