This book examines the most economically critical and politically sensitive issues of China's reform process -- labor market development, changing industrial relations, the altered role of trade unions, and labor-state and labor-capital conflict. By examining the nature of contemporary work in various sectors of the Chinese economy, the contributors demonstrate that formal ownership patterns, still heavily dominated by the state, are not a comprehensive guide to the character of the current economic system.

This book focuses primarily on the vents and consequences that followed the July 1997 collapse of the Thai bhat. The contributions reflect the range in approach and focus of scholarship in the region. In the first section, Gareth Evans presents a detailed overview of the conflicts that the crisis has precipitated in the region, while Bob Catley outlines the post-Cold War strategic arrangements of the region and their implications. Sang-hwa Chung provides an outline of the economic crises experienced by the worst affected countries. Iyanatul Islam discusses the implications of the crisis from US perspectives and Western institutions. In the second section, N. Ganesan, Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, Gerry Groot and Samina Ahmed examine political and strategic dimensions of the crises and the responses to them. In the third section, Stuart Harris, Akiko Fukushima, Felix Patrikeeff and Brahma Chellaney analyse territorial, sovereignty and nuclear issues arising from the crises. In the final section, Graeme Hugo, Lesley Potter and Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo concentrate on the social, ecological and human aspects of the crises.