The Asian challenge to the universality of human rights has caused intense debate. Here is a clear stand for universal rights, theoretically and empirically, through an analysis of social and political processes in Asia. Asian values are linked to the struggle between authoritarian and democratic forces, which both tend to convey stereotyped images of the "West", but with reversed meanings.

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The Asian challenge to the universality of human rights has caused intense debate. Here is a clear stand for universal rights, theoretically and empirically, through an analysis of social and political processes in Asia. Asian values are linked to the struggle between authoritarian and democratic forces, which both tend to convey stereotyped images of the "West", but with reversed meanings.

Squeezed between powerful neighbours, for decades Mongolia played the role of buffer state. Its full independence in 1990 offered new opportunities for both economic growth and the restoration of Mongolian identity. But with a huge land area, poor infrastructure and a small population, the new republic is vulnerable and also dependent on international support.;This work covers a range of topics on contemporary Mongolia, including foreign policy, domestic politics, local government structure, living standards and poverty, women in society, grassland management, the common herding household, and science and technology policy.

Squeezed between powerful neighbours, for decades Mongolia played the role of buffer state. Its full independence in 1990 offered new opportunities for both economic growth and the restoration of Mongolian identity. But with a huge land area, poor infrastructure and a small population, the new republic is highly vulnerable and also dependent on international support.
This book provides easily accessible information for developers, planners, consultants, scholars, students and others with an interest in contemporary Mongolia. Prefaced by a general overview of the land and society, its chapters, all written by international experts, cover a wide range of topics, including foreign policy, domestic politics, local government structure, living standards and poverty, women in society, grassland management, the common herding household, and science and technology policy. A comprehensive bibliography is provided.

Series Information:
NIAS Studies in Asian Topics

This book is intended to fill a gap in climate-change literature by providing a comprehensive regional study and identifying the overall adaptation challenges in a real-life context. The way in which possible climate impacts interact with a range of other challenges in agriculture, forestry, disaster planning, health care, general economic development, and common livelihoods are presented, and it is argued that greater realism and broader vision are needed in order to address the climate challenge. For instance, unsuitable land- use changes in both coastal and highland regions may increase the vulnerability of rural people, many of whom are already living on the fringes. The author(s) also state(s) that, depending on context, it may be pertinent to address short-term and unsustainable resource use, irregularities in local land management, ineffective governance and social inequality, which are all likely to aggravate the impact of external climate and weather. Not least, it is imperative to integrate general environmental management with any climate-change adaptation effort.

Feng Shui has been known in the West for the last 150 years but has mostly been regarded as a primitive superstition. During the modern period successive regimes in China have suppressed its practice. However, in the last few decades Feng Shui has become a global spiritual movement with professional associations, thousands of titles published on the subject, countless websites devoted to it and millions of users. In this book Ole Bruun explains Feng Shui's Chinese origins and meanings as well as its more recent Western interpretations and global appeal. Unlike the abundance of popular manuals, his Introduction treats Chinese Feng Shui as an academic subject, bridging religion, history and sociology. Individual chapters explain: - the Chinese religious-philosophical background - Chinese uses in rural and urban areas - the history of Feng Shui's reinterpretation in the West - environmental perspectives and other issues

Feng Shui has been known in the West for the last 150 years but has mostly been regarded as a primitive superstition. During the modern period successive regimes in China have suppressed its practice. However, in the last few decades Feng Shui has become a global spiritual movement with professional associations, thousands of titles published on the subject, countless websites devoted to it and millions of users. In this book Ole Bruun explains Feng Shui's Chinese origins and meanings as well as its more recent Western interpretations and global appeal. Unlike the abundance of popular manuals, his Introduction treats Chinese Feng Shui as an academic subject, bridging religion, history and sociology. Individual chapters explain: - the Chinese religious-philosophical background - Chinese uses in rural and urban areas - the history of Feng Shui's reinterpretation in the West - environmental perspectives and other issues

This book is intended to fill a gap in climate-change literature by providing a comprehensive regional study and identifying the overall adaptation challenges in a real-life context. The way in which possible climate impacts interact with a range of other challenges in agriculture, forestry, disaster planning, health care, general economic development, and common livelihoods are presented, and it is argued that greater realism and broader vision are needed in order to address the climate challenge. For instance, unsuitable land- use changes in both coastal and highland regions may increase the vulnerability of rural people, many of whom are already living on the fringes. The author(s) also state(s) that, depending on context, it may be pertinent to address short-term and unsustainable resource use, irregularities in local land management, ineffective governance and social inequality, which are all likely to aggravate the impact of external climate and weather. Not least, it is imperative to integrate general environmental management with any climate-change adaptation effort.

Why does a Chinese office building have to face in a certain direction to bring good fortune? What is the role of nature in Japanese advertising? What are attitudes in pakistan towards nature conservation. What are sacred trees?;This volume takes a critical look at Asian perceptions of their natural environment as well as western views of Asia, and examines the apparent paradox of pollution and destruction of natural resources taking place in cultures traditionally perceived as being in harmony with their environments. The authors suggest that one reason may be that what Asians state as metaphors, Westerners take as face value.

Ole Bruun focuses on a community of nomadic livestock herders in present-day Mongolia. He depicts their transition from a contained, Soviet-era collective to modern times and addresses the most essential conditions for their continued survival and prosperity in the age of the market: the adaptability of their own culture and working strategies, government policy, and international attention. By studying the nomadic practice of animal husbandry in the context of family farms, Bruun points out the similarity to the peasant economy defined by the Russian agricultural economist Alexander Chayanov nearly a century ago. In both economies, the labor-consumer balance and life-cycle variations commonly set the term for economic strategies, yet the pastoral economy involves a highly specialized form of agriculture in which the scale of exchange determines wealth and lifestyle. In a vast territory such as Mongolia, infrastructure, social benefits, and other means of state support are crucial to prevent herders from sliding into a subsistence orientation, eventually leading to poverty.

Ole Bruun focuses on a community of nomadic livestock herders in present-day Mongolia. He depicts their transition from a contained, Soviet-era collective to modern times and addresses the most essential conditions for their continued survival and prosperity in the age of the market: the adaptability of their own culture and working strategies, government policy, and international attention. By studying the nomadic practice of animal husbandry in the context of family farms, Bruun points out the similarity to the peasant economy defined by the Russian agricultural economist Alexander Chayanov nearly a century ago. In both economies, the labor-consumer balance and life-cycle variations commonly set the term for economic strategies, yet the pastoral economy involves a highly specialized form of agriculture in which the scale of exchange determines wealth and lifestyle. In a vast territory such as Mongolia, infrastructure, social benefits, and other means of state support are crucial to prevent herders from sliding into a subsistence orientation, eventually leading to poverty.

This volume examines the process of cultural change in Mongol societies since the early 20th century by considering the interaction of the basic structural features of pastoral nomadism in Mongolia with larger economies, both communist and capitalist; the effect of deliberate cultural reconstruction (ranging from changes to the education system to purges and outright cultural destruction) on the conduct of the pastoral economy; and the efforts of Mongols themselves to develop aspects of their own cultural identity under conditions of territorial partition, episodes of intense political repression, and (in the Russian and Chinese regions) very substantial immigration by non-Mongol groups. In particular, this volume will examine those modernization processes entailed in urbanization, secularization, industrialization, democratization and national identity formation. A central question is to what extent these take a different shape in a pastoral society as compared to an "ordinary" sedentary agricultural society.

Contrary to popular manuals, this book approaches fengshui from an academic angle, focusing on its significance in China, but also depicting the recent history of its reinterpretation in the West. It includes a historical account of fengshui over the last 150 years with anthropological fieldwork on contemporary practices in two Chinese rural areas. The author argues that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas such as disease, mental disorders, accidents and common mischief. Although Chinese authorities have opposed the tradition for centuries, it has been used by almost every-one as an aspect of popular cosmology. This title falls in the category of Anthropology, Religious Studies, Environmental Studies, and China. It is suitable for academic researchers and post-graduate students.