Global Asia - Spring 2020

In this issue

As this issue of Global Asia was being prepared, the outbreak of Covid-19 that had been tearing through the region exploded into a global pandemic, claiming thousands of new victims in Europe, the US, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. Italy’s fatalities alone now exceed those in China, where the outbreak appears to have originated. We intend to delve into this pandemic in future issues; in this one we include an early look at how the crisis was handled in China and South Korea...

In our In Focus section, we look at the coronavirus outbreak in China, and how fundamental flaws in how Beijing first reacted may have contributed to its severity. We examine South Korea’s approach to tamp down the extraordinary spread there. We ask, too, whether border controls are useful or not to stop the spread of viruses...

Elsewhere, our cover package is devoted to democratic backsliding. The broadest debate in Asia on models of governance has tended to center on the struggle for influence between China and the US, and the differing attractions of a one-party, autocratic system and one based on democracy, rule of law and a liberal world order. But countries across the region have over the years been conducting their own debates about democracy’s place in their political systems... Our cover package probes the state of democracy in Asia, examining a range of countries, highlighting where the threat of authoritarianism is rearing its head and where democratic values appear resilient. If a trend toward backsliding seems under way, the outcome is far from certain. The essays, under the co-editorship of Aurel Croissant and Larry Diamond, build on discussions at the workshop “Democratic Backsliding in Asia,” hosted by Heidelberg University last December. They preview arguments to appear in a special issue of the journal Democratization.

Global Asia Magazine Description:

Global Asia is a quarterly publication of the East Asia Foundation. The foundation, established in Seoul in January 2005, strives to promote peace, prosperity, security and sustainability in East Asia by creating an open and creative forum for the exchange of ideas on regional co-operation and integration, among other goals.
The mission we have set for ourselves with Global Asia is both bold and urgent: It is to provide a compelling, serious, and responsible forum for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
Global Asia is not a journal with a fixed point of view, or a particular agenda. Our aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia. In our pages and on our web site, we aim for Asia to speak to the world, and the world to Asia. That is important at a time when this region is playing an ever greater role in world affairs.
There are other fine publications on international affairs. What sets us apart is our focus: Asia. We believe that the world is moving into “the Age of Asia,” to borrow a phrase from one of the articles in the inaugural issue of Global Asia in September 2006. This transformation is not going to occur overnight, but it has already begun.
The region’s dynamic economic growth, stable and accountable political systems, maturing democracies, and evolving sense of community are giving Asia greater weight in the world. These developments will have enormous implications for governments, businesses, societies and individuals across the globe. How that transformation is viewed, and shaped, from within Asia and how it is perceived outside Asia is an essential part of the story we have to tell.
The forces of globalization are having a profound impact throughout the world. And they are being influenced and channeled in different ways in different parts of the world. Ours is the story of Asia’s experience with globalization, and the ideas and debates influencing it. In pursuing our mission, we aim to play a part, however modest, in helping to shape the future of Asia.