Introducing the Spring 2018 Issue of Education About Asia, “Asian Politics”

Below is the Editor’s Message from the newest issue of Education About Asia, the open-access teaching journal of the Association for Asian Studies. For complete online access to this issue, as well as over 1,500 articles from 22 years of Education About Asia, please visit the EAA website.

By Lucien Ellington, Education About Asia Editor

I hope readers are enjoying the spring. The intent to make a more effective special section through utilizing a “political economy” approach should be evident in the topical breadth of the issue and, hopefully, a “real world” approach to understanding the influences of demography, geopolitics, national security, technology, economic development, religion, and ethnicity upon governments and politics.

The special section, “Asian Politics,” begins with Tony Tai-Ting Liu’s “The Rise of China and its Geopolitical Implications” that should serve as a basic introduction for educators and students to a number of issues regarding China’s expanding influence that have regional and global implications. Two features assist teachers and students to better understand twentieth-century China: Kelly Ann Long’s “Helen Foster Snow in Revolutionary China, the Cold War, and Contemporary America” and Steven F. Jackson’s “Constructing Communism: Teaching about Revolutionary Societies through Chinese Poster Art,” respectively, examine Chinese communism through the eyes of a sympathetic and controversial American, and provide students with graphic evidence of the utilization of propaganda by a totalitarian government during the Mao years. Robert D. Eldridge’s “Japanese Millennials and Politics: An Introduction” should be of interest to older high school and undergraduate students, especially since, regarding political involvement and perceptions of public policy issues, millennials in North America and Japan have some similarities, but also strikingly different attitudes and behavior.

As of this issue’s publication, for obvious reasons, the issue of nuclear weapons and the Korean peninsula has garnered recent world attention. Three scholars who also have Korea and East Asia experience that transcend the academy were audacious enough, given rapidly unfolding events, to contribute to the special segment: “Symposium: Nuclear Weapons and the Korean Peninsula.” Please note that the three contributors included further commentaries that are published in our online supplement in light of additional developments since the print issue went to press.

Abhijit Roy’s “The Middle Class in India: From 1947 to the Present and Beyond” is a comprehensive introduction to the economic, political, and social ramifications of the ascent of the middle class in the world’s second-largest country. Andrea Malji’s “The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and its Regional and Global Ramifications” is an introduction to another kind of ascent that has growing domestic and geopolitical effects. Religion, ethnicity, and possible challenges to democratic government are important factors highlighted in Stefani Nugroho’s “Jakarta’s 2017 Gubernatorial Election and the Future of Indonesian Politics.” Mousumi Roy’s “Asia’s Role in the Four Industrial Revolutions” offers students and instructors rich comparative economic history with a vivid contemporary introduction to Asia’s current technological global lead in a number of fields that are certain to influence world politics.

The special section continues in the resources section with five teaching resource and book review essays focusing upon political and geopolitical topics; the variety of China-related perspectives and topics is particularly evident in the Resources section, although pedagogically useful review essays appear on India, the Koreas, and on the life and influence of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew. (#AsiaNow note: Please see the EAA open-access online archive for articles and reviews not linked to in the text above.)

The fall 2018 EAA special section is “Demographics, Social Policy, and Asia (Part II),” and the winter 2018 special section is “What Should We Know About Asia?”; the deadline for initial receipt of manuscripts for the latter issue is August 1, 2018. November 30, 2018, is the deadline for initial receipt of manuscripts for the spring 2019 special section, “Schools in Asia.” Please visit the EAA website for author guidelines and for information about all upcoming special sections scheduled for 2019; nonthematic manuscripts are also considered for each issue.

Some EAA readers might recall that in the fall 2017 online supplements, we published Scott Harrison and Erin Williams’s “Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada: Digital Teaching Resources.” Both authors are Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) staff members, and I am delighted to announce that Scott Harrison is now an EAA editorial board member.

Please encourage friends and colleagues who prefer EAA print copies to subscribe at our low rates. This can be done online at the EAA website. Readers interested in accessing PDFs of all EAA articles and essays through the current issue can visit the EAA website for no charge and no required password. In the meantime, please like us on Facebook, follow EAA on Twitter, and tell your friends to do the same. Readers especially interested in EAA developments should go to our website and register for the EAA email digest; there is no charge, the newsletter is distributed every five to six weeks, and digest subscribers will also learn about other Asia-related teaching resources in addition to EAA.