Book Launch: Democracy & Diversity: Political Engineering in the Asia-Pacific

STOP PRESS: Democracy & Diversity Nominated for International Prize

CDI Director Ben Reilly's new book, Democracy & Diversity: Political Engineering in the Asia-Pacific (Oxford University Press, 2006)  was launched at the ANU on 6 February 2007.

The book examines the political reforms introduced by democratizing Asian and Pacific states  over the past decade. Arguing that political reformers across the Asia-Pacific region have sought to manage their internal diversity by deliberate, innovative and often highly ambitious forms of political engineering, it analyses how Northeast Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Island states are seeking to manage political change by far-reaching reforms to their electoral, parliamentary and party systems.

The result of these reforms has been the  emergence of a distinctive Asia-Pacific  model of democracy aimed at fostering aggregative political parties, centripetal electoral competition and stable executive governments.  The book  analyses the causes and consequences of this new approach to the design of democratic institutions, and its consequences for broader issues of governance and development across the Asia-Pacific region.

Launching the book, Professor Andrew MacIntyre of the Crawford School of Economics and Government said that the book was an ambitious and provocative example of CDI's core mandate being applied in generating new ideas and new insights to strengthening democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. It also highlighted the work of the Crawford School and the ANU more generally in making a major intellectual contribution to the study of politics in the Pacific Islands, East Asia, the management of ethnic cleavages, and the theory of political engineering.

The book launch was attended by a range of representatives from the ANU, AusAid, DFAT, the diplomatic community, and the media.

	Publication details @ Oxford University Press
	Graeme Dobell Interviews Ben Reilly on his new publication which analyses Asian and Pacific political systems - Radio Australia, 7 February 2007.
	Launch Invitation