This book of text, cases and materials from Asia is designed for scholars and students of constitutional law and comparative constitutional law. The book is divided into 11 chapters, arranged thematically around key ideas and controversies, enabling the reader to work through the major facets of constitutionalism in the region. The book begins with a lengthy introduction that critically examines the study of constitutional orders in 'Asia', highlighting the histories, colonial influences, and cultural particularities extant in the region. This chapter serves both as a provisional orientation towards the major constitutional developments seen in Asia - both unique and shared with other regions - and as a guide to the controversies encountered in the study of constitutional law in Asia. Each of the following chapters is framed by an introductory essay setting out the issues and succinctly highlighting critical perspectives and themes. The approach is one of 'challenge and response', whereby questions of constitutional importance are posed and the reader is then led, by engaging with primary and secondary materials, through the way the various Asian states respond to these questions and challenges. Chapter segments are accompanied by notes, comments and questions to facilitate critical and comparative analysis, as well as recommendations for further reading.The book presents a representative range of Asian materials from jurisdictions including: Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka , Taiwan, Timor-Leste and the 10 ASEAN states.

The rise of Asia in global political and economic developments has been facilitated in part by a profound transformation of Asian courts. This book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of these courts, explaining how their structures differ from courts in the West and how they have been shaped by the current challenges facing Asia. Contributors from across the continent analyze fourteen selected Asian jurisdictions representing varying degrees of development: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Setting the courts of each region in the context of their country's economic, political, and social dynamics, this book shows how and why Asian courts have undergone such profound transformations in recent years and predicts the future trajectories of tradition, transition and globalization to suggest the challenges and developments that lie ahead.

This book analyses the equal citizenship claims of women and sexual and gender diverse people across several Asian jurisdictions. The volume examines the rich diversity of constitutional responses to sex, gender, and sexuality in the region from a comparative perspective. Leading comparative constitutional law scholars identify ‘opportunity structures’ to explain the uneven advancement of gender equality through constitutional litigation and consider a combination of variables which shape the diverging trajectories of the jurisdictions in this study. These variables include: - constitutional structures - the composition and powers of the courts - regional constitutional isomorphism - the incorporation of international and regional human rights standards - hermeneutic traditions - colonial legacies - foreign influences - social structures and hierarchies - forms of gendered and/or religious nationalism. The authors also embed the relevant constitutional and legal developments in their historical, political and social contexts. This deep contextual understanding of the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality, and constitutionalism greatly enriches the analysis. The case studies reflect a variety of constitutional structures, institutional designs, and contextual dynamics which may advance or impede developments with respect to sex, gender, and sexuality. As a whole, the chapters further an understanding of the constitutional domain as a fruitful site for advancing gender equality and the rights of sexual and gender diverse people. The jurisdictions covered represent all Asian sub-regions including: East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea), South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia), and South Asia (India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). The introductory framework chapter situates these insights from the region within the broader global context of the evolution of gender constitutionalism.