Journalism and democracy in Asia

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Dan Coats

Senator Coats addresses the need to strengthen the authority and economic well-being of those institutions that teach moral values. As author of the legislative package The Project for American Renewal, he argues that the government must use its authority to empower constructive actions in the nongovernmental sector. Presented as the third annual Kuyper Lecture, Mending Fences includes responses from three distinguished social activists, who offer their suggestions for promoting justice and moral responsibility in America. They are Glenn C. Loury, professor of economics and director of the Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston University; Mary Nelson, founding president of Bethel New Life (Chicago); and Stanley W. Carlson-Thies, director of social policy studies, the Center for Public Justice.

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Mordechai Kedar

"The Syrian regime, ruled by the Ba'th socialist party and headed by presidents from the 'Alawi minority, faces problems of legitimacy vis-a-vis its people, which it tackles through powerful security organizations and the state media." "Text, photographs and cartoons are marshalled in support of promoting the consensus accepting the legitimacy of the state. Analyzing the political domestic message of the Syrian press - as well as the quotation of newspaper sources in the original Arabic, and their English translation - shows up the problems faced by the shapers of public opinion in Syria, revealing what they see as the weakness of their state, society, regime and president. The book also looks at the new "message period" of Bashar, Hafiz al-Asad's son and successor."--Jacket.

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Ki-Sung Kwak

Since South Korea achieved partial democracy in 1987, the country has moved away from authoritarian political control. However, after two decades of democratic transition, South Korea still does not have a strong liberal, individualist culture - something that has brought about a wide range of scholarly discussion on the nature of democracy practised in this dynamic country. While the political changes in South Korea have received rigorous attention from Western scholars, less attention has been given to the changing nature and role of media in this and other such transitions. This book focuses on the changing role of media in the more democratised political landscape of South Korea. It thereby contributes to debates about the emerging role of the media in democratic transition, especially in relation to approaches that go beyond traditional Western constructs of media freedom and the relationship between the state and the media. In addition, it discusses the complex interacting forces that affect the role of the media and their implications for state control and democratisation.

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Robert Service

Trotsky is perhaps the most intriguing and, given his prominence, the most understudied of the Soviet revolutionaries. Using new archival sources including family letters, party and military correspondence, confidential speeches, and medical records, Service offers new insights into Trotsky.