About the Book
Asia is the most populated continent of the world, known for its ancient civilizations, origin of religions as well as its recent history of colonization. While Asia is known for its fast economic development and explanations for it are sought in an ‘Asian development model’ and ‘Asian values’, this region is also known for the largest number of poor people in the world.
The aim of the book is to carry out a comparative study of social development in Asian sub-regions to explore the following questions:
What is the status of social development in Asia with reference to progress, gaps and contradictions if any?
Is social development in Asian sub-regions homogenous or diverse?
Why is Asia rising? Is it a miracle? What factors explain the diversity in social development progress across Asian sub-regions?
Are there Asian values or development approaches that cut across Asian sub-regions? What are they and what determine them?
What does Asia and the Asian sub-regions need to do for better progress in social development?
What are the implications for international social development if Asia is rising?
The book is prepared for a comprehensive understanding of social development in Asia so that it can feed into policy planning of development systems and teaching social development in Asian countries as well as in other countries interested in Asian social development.
Contents
Part 1: Overall Diversity in Social Development in Asia
1. Emergence of the Social Development Paradigm
2. Introduction to Diversity in Social Development Progress in Asia
3. Geographical and Historical Background of Social Development in Asia
4. Political Background of Social Development in Asia
5. Role of State and Civil Society in Social Development in Asia
6. Economic Policy Approaches and Role of Regional Institutions in Social Development in Asia
7. Social Policy Approaches and Social Development in Asia
Part 2: Diversity in Social Development Progress in Asia and Implications
8. Diversity in Progress in Poverty Eradication and Food Security in Asia
9. Diversity in Progress in Investment in Health in Asia
10. Diversity in Progress in Investment in Education in Asia
11. Diversity in Progress in Gender Equality in Asia
12. Diversity in Progress in Environmental Sustainability in Asia
13. Discussion of Diversity in Social Development Progress in Asia and Implications
About the Author / Editor
Murli Desai, Ph.D. in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, was on the faculty of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai from 1984 and took voluntary retirement in 2006. Subsequently, she worked as a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Department of Social Work at the National University of Singapore and Professor in the Department of Social Welfare, at the Seoul National University of South Korea. Her previous books include Methodology of Progressive Social Work Education (2004), Ideologies and Social Work: Historical and Contemporary Analyses (2010), A Rights-Based Preventative Approach for Psychosocial Well-Being in Childhood (2010) and The Paradigm of International Social Development: Ideologies, Development Systems and Policy Approaches (2013).
