What prompted you to write this book?

Two personal perspectives. With over twenty years of experience in the industry as a public relations practitioner, Margalit identified a significant gap in the way public relations was practiced and perceived in Israel compared to the developed countries she visited as a member of the international PR community. While studying and working in the US she became intrigued by those differences. Israel for example, had no academic program in public relations till 2011 while in the US it was a recognised discipline within many universities. She decided to respond to scholars such as Sriramesh and Vercic who in the late 1990s called for the discipline of public relations to research the profession within the context of specific cultural and political environments rather than follow the assumption that all public relations experiences follow the US model.
As a Scottish republican, David has been questioning national identity almost since birth and has been researching PR since 1997. Only recently, however, did he appreciate the formative role of public relations in personal and national narratives and the impact of national identities on the evolution of PR as a profession. Our joint trips to Israel helped us both to identify the interplay of nation building and PR as a distinctive way to understand both the uniqueness of the Israeli system and its possible relevance to other unique national experiences.

What makes Israel stand out from other countries, in terms of the use of PR to inform/build national identity?

Israel, at 65, is relatively a new state that was established by immigrants from around the world with about 70 different cultural identities and languages. The Zionist movement that established the state made a phenomenal effort to unite them into one society and to create a new Israeli identity. The first public relations practitioners were employed by Zionist institutions. They used PR to enlist the new immigrants to the challenging tasks involved in building a nation and a state. They also provided the enlisting narratives, symbols, and emotional messages that inspired the sacrifice of personal individual goals, and sometimes, lives, for the sake of building a state.

Does the definition of PR change when used in the context of nation building?

Current definitions of public relations emphasise the role of the practitioners as facilitators of dialogue between organisations and their constituents, and as builders of networks of relationships. We argue that in situations of nation building, the pressure to use propaganda-style communication is intense. The whole society, including the media, tends to cooperate and support the agendas set by the national leadership. Typically, there is no tolerance for dissident voices as happens during wars. Enlisted societies rarely offer the democratic environment that allows PR to flourish in line with contemporary definitions.
 

Do other techniques form national identities in Israel?

There is a special term in Hebrew called Hasbara which, literally, means “explanation.” It is used to describe the effort of government, or other organisations, to influence public opinion within Israel and abroad. A paternalistic approach to persuasive communication, Hasbara is based on the assumption that the receivers of the message are ignorant or lack the background knowledge to understand correctly without guidance. Hasbara, or the lack of it, is often blamed for the poor image of Israel abroad and the international criticism on its behaviour, especially in the context of its conflict with Palestinians. Hasbara is often used to describe public relations campaigns though it is closer to propaganda and does not recognise the need for interactive dialogue.

What is the difference between political propaganda and public relations, or is it that political propaganda is a tool of public relations?

Any type of propaganda, not just political propaganda, is one sided and involves half-truth or lies while ignoring or shutting down the voices of opponents. Public relations aims to be more dialogical and to present activists and other critical voices to the decision makers of their organisations. The profession aspires to ethical communication and to the building of relations of trust with stakeholders, the public, and the media. In reality, however, it can operate akin to many features of propaganda and only pay lip service to the attitudes and demands of internal and external publics.

Why do you think PR has not been examined before in terms of nation building and national identity?

There have been a few scholars who did examine this interaction and, more recently, there’s been increased research in the area. Nonetheless, most of the literature on public relations has been produced since the 1920s in the US. That literature assumed American leadership of the profession and the academic research. With the rise of globalisation, and less US-centric approaches, scholars have studied different professional experiences in different parts of the world. Jacquie L’Etang’s (2004) pioneering book on the history of public relations in Britain was a first of its kind. In a sense our book follows her steps by providing a different story from another political, economic, and socio-cultural environment.

What is the overall message of the book?

That unity should not ride roughshod over democracy and that dissenting voices need to be heard. We see an urgent need to make the future activities of public relations contribute positively and transparently to the growth of “fully functioning societies.” In a climate of nation building and nationalism, PR can be too easily pressed into the service of government propaganda. It needs to build a history of resistances to these pressures. By remembering that it functions best in a democratic environment, it can help to speak truth to power to preserve that environment. Israel’s success in providing narratives that enlist society to unite and to sacrifice for the state offers lessons that unity sometimes comes at the cost of democracy.

If you were pressed to name one lesson to be taken away from this research, what would it be?

We hope our narrative will encourage public relations practitioners and scholars from all over the world to make their histories visible, to learn from both their positive and negative aspects and to share both as widely as possible. Our deeper aspiration is that PR practitioners, activists, and media workers can jointly contribute to more democratic societies.

Who did you write this book for?

We have ongoing discussion with Margalit’s family and friends in Israel and Israelis, Jews and non-Jews outside of the country. While writing the book we were trying to clarify our position to them and work out how our experiences in our nations had shaped us. Our colleagues and friends from all over the world who research and study the role of public relations in society were a significant audience in our mind. We also tried to create a book that would help Israelis understand PR and the Israeli PR industry to acknowledge its professional roots and be inspired by the socially responsible aspirations of contemporary public relations practitioners across the world.
 

Read more from Ruth Kinzey in an interview about her book here.

What prompted you to write the book?
Many people encouraged me to write another book. However, it wasn’t until Dr. Marcella DeVeaux contacted me to locate copies of Using Public Relations Strategies to Promote Your Nonprofit Organization that I seriously considered undertaking such a project.
Although published several years earlier, Dr. DeVeaux said the basic communication principles, understandable writing style, easy-to-implement tactical approaches, and extensive bibliography continued to make this book a “must have” for those interested in nonprofit communication. Given my passion for teaching and mentoring, these remarks inspired me share my knowledge and research through a second book.

Is there a difference in PR practice between not-for-profit organizations and for-profit organizations? And if so, are there distinctly different channels accessed or approaches adopted by the two types or is the PR more similar than one might think?
Although nonprofits and businesses have different purposes, there are significant similarities.
Whether selling a car, enticing someone to dine at your restaurant, asking an individual to use your accounting service, making a donation request to a nonprofit, or requesting a person volunteer time as a committee chair, the reputational components leveraged as well as the strategic communication planning and measurement processes are essential.
Whether for-profit or nonprofit, the organization’s image must be portrayed consistently and steps taken to proactively enhance as well as protect this reputation. Strategic communication planning efforts must be holistic in nature to ensure consistent organizational image. This helps minimize the risk of an inconsistent reputation as well as identifies weaknesses and possible reputational detractors. Also, relationships must be built with critical stakeholders through honest and open communication. And, collaborative opportunities with key audiences must be identified and executed. Without these, a business or a nonprofit may limit itself through “tunnel vision,” causing major goals to be missed and a lesser degree of success achieved.

What would you say the most difficult barrier facing the PR for nonprofit organizations was? Why? And, how might it be overcome?
A major PR challenge for nonprofit organizations is to think in reputation management terms. Nonprofits automatically receive a significant amount of goodwill because they are thought of as being dedicated to good causes, working toward the common welfare of all, and committed to making the world a better place in which to live.
A business, on the other hand, must work hard to earn trust and to be awarded such a positive and altruistic reputation.
Consequently, nonprofits may overlook the important role a positive and well defined reputation plays in generating donations; recruiting and retaining volunteers at all levels; and protecting credibility and trust during a crisis.
Since it is not a question of if but when a crisis strikes and since the nonprofit environment has become extremely competitive, not-for-profit entities cannot take their reputation for granted. They must be aware of how they are perceived, proactively strategize how they can enhance and capitalize on their reputations, and vigorously protect their images when crises or sensitive situations arise.

How would you describe the main differences between your first publication with us, Using Public Relations to Promote Your Nonprofit Organization, and Promoting Nonprofit Organizations?
Promoting Nonprofit Organizations focuses intently on the reputation management approach to nonprofit branding and public relations. Collaboration is another key theme in this book as communication with important publics and relationship building with critical stakeholders are a necessity for strategic and proactive reputation management efforts.
Although each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular communication channel or tactic, which is similar in writing style to my first publication, Promoting Nonprofit Organizations approaches subjects from an overarching, strategic vantage point and always links to some component of reputation management.

If you were pressed, what would you say was the number one lesson to take away from reading this book?
Proactive enhancement and protection of an organization’s reputation is critical, if a nonprofit intends to:
*maximize fundraising potential;
*leverage relationships with key stakeholders;
*collaborate to its benefit with business and government; and
*recruit and retain engaged volunteers.
To achieve such results, strategic reputation management must be foundational in the strategic planning and tactical communication implementation process.

If you could go back in time and recommend a chapter or segment to your earlier self, which chapter would it be and why?
I’d recommend the strategic planning chapter.
In the course of a busy day, one is pulled in numerous ways. These distractions can tempt one to short change the strategic planning process. When this occurs, adequate time is not spent on a comprehensive and strategic review of the organization. Instead, it is essential to:
*take a holistic view to see how all aspects interrelate to the organization’s reputation,
*analyze the critical elements in this equation,
*dedicate time and resources to proactively shape and achieve this desired image, and
*measure to determine the degree of effectiveness and success.
Care also must be taken to determine how the nonprofit’s brand can be protected by avoiding crises and mitigating risks.

Do you have any anecdotes you would like to share in relation to the book, perhaps from the researching process or your communication experience in the corporate and consulting arenas?
It was particularly rewarding to see the comments of my interviewees fully mirror my research, personal experience, and conclusions. Plus, their written remarks are extremely effective in illustrating key points within the book through the “real life” examples they provided and the insights they shared.
 

Visit youtube today & watch Paul Kearns, author of ‘Professional HR’, introduce his transformative book, which explores this question.

Watch Paul Kearns on youtube introducing his forthcoming book which aims to transform HR methods by setting professional standards for HR equivalent to those demanded of doctors. It seeks to put the morality of professionalism back into corporate life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EtqbRUAuMk 

For more information on this ground breaking title go to http://www.routledge.com/u/PHR.

To request review copies, arrange interviews and/or collaboration on any features with the author, please contact Jenny Ellis at Jennifer.Ellis@tandf.co.uk
 

Don Moggridge discusses the importantance of the new collection and its significance in helping to understand the economic influence that Johnson had on a significant proportion of the twentieth century.

'Harry Johnson (1923-1977), was educated at Toronto, Cambridge and Harvard. He taught full-time at St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (1943-4), Cambridge (1949-56), Manchester (1956-9), Chicago (1959-77) and LSE (1966-74).

His skills as an economist were recognised early and exploited in other ways. In June 1949 he was invited to join the advisory board of the Review of Economic Studies. He became Assistant Editor two years later, then Assistant Managing Editor, a post he held, despite the journal's long-standing convention of editors having to resign when promoted (which should have removed him when he took his chair in Manchester) until 1961. His editorial career would later include editorships of the Journal of Political Economy (1960-66, 1969-77), the Manchester School, Economica, as well as a watching brief on the Journal of International Economics. He was the best editor of his generation. With his encyclopedic knowledge of the literature and the profession, he could guide authors in fruitful directions and place their contributions in the context of contemporary developments of the discipline. Constant travel, conference-going and networking played a crucial role. He was onto trends before they appeared in print. He once remarked that if he relied solely on libraries or publications he would be at least two years behind where he actually was and thus be obsolete.

Johnson played a dominant role in two areas of economics. In the development of the Heckscher-Ohlin tradition, he made fundamental contributions to the theory of tariffs and to the formal theory of trade and economic growth. He also provided state of the art surveys. In monetary economics, both domestic and international, he was almost as seminal a figure. In a series of classic surveys of the literature, he identified and explained the links between the ideas of the major innovators in post-war monetary theory and, in his discussion of the issues that would benefit from further work, he set the agenda of the profession for a generation. He was the founding contributor to the monetary approach to the balance of payments.

This series of volumes contains all of Johnson's major contributions to both international trade and monetary economics and, in the two volumes edited with Jacob Frenkel, his attempt to launch, both theoretically and empirically, the monetary approach to the balance of payments. The series also provides examples of another of Johnson's strengths — his ability to extend economic analysis creatively to comprehend new phenomena such as opulence, economic nationalism, trade policy and the development of economics.

The volumes thus provide not only a good guide to the career of one outstanding economist, but also, given his command of the literature and its development, a guide to international economics and monetary economics as they developed in the third quarter of the twentieth century.'

For more information on this new collection from Routledge Library Editions, or to order your copy, visit: http://www.routledge.com/books/series/CWHJ/

What are the main challenges to doing business in China?

There are many. First, the legal system though improving somewhat, is weak. It is difficult to have contracts and laws enforced in many parts of China. Second, the government still maintains control of about 35% of the economy. And this 35% is the core of the economy. Most importantly they control the banking system, so they decide who gets capital. That is why it can be said they do not have capitalism in China. Third, the government is the main player in the business system. If you do business in China, you do business with the government. They are involved in myriad ways. Fourth, the government has created rules that benefit their own state-owned companies (SOE) at the expense of others. Fourth, intellectual property rights (IPR) are not safe in China. This is especially bad for foreign businesses with advanced technology. Fifth, there is a culture of relationships in China, where who you know is more important than laws and rules. This again involves the government, but it involves everyone. Families rule. Helping you family is most important over other relationships and commitments. Professional cultures is just beginning. Sixth, there is wide-spread government corruption. The people who do best in society are government officials. Much of this is through bribery, kickbacks, etc. Corruption is systemic. The government is fighting it sort of but the problem is so big it will take a generation or two if they really put their back into it, which is far from clear.

What would you say was the most damaging cultural assumption that American and Chinese executives bring to the table when doing business with each other?

They do not trust each other. The Chinese remember the “century of shame” when Western countries invaded China. Stealing from foreigners is almost sport. The Chinese have a sense of inferiority from being so far behind the West. Though that is changing as their tremendous success continues. The two cultures cannot understand each other. “Yes” for the Chinese means “I’ll think about it”, while Westerners think yes means agreement. They cannot read each other’s body language or facial expressions. Chinese are indirect, American are direct. This easily leads to misunderstanding. The Chinese do not think long-term. They do not trust their own government. They want to make money and get out, literally out of the country. Americans have long-range plans.

Could you briefly summarize the intellectual property rights in China and how this relates to collaboration with American businesses?

The Chinese did not have a law for private property until 1984. Laws since then are not always enforced even when they exist. The Chinese do not have a history of IPR. They for thousands of years had a traditional society, which meant imitating role models was the norm. In other words, copying others was the norm. Confucius or one of his disciples said, “To steal a book is an elegant offense”. They really do not have a deep sense of IP. Also they have a more communal society than the West, so they naturally favor the importance of the community as a source of innovation, which puts them at odds with the West. Even when the courts find Chinese companies guilty of IP violations, the penalties are so small they are not a deterrent.

What prompted you to write this book?

My fascination with Chinese culture, the great changes in Chinese society, and the contrasts with the West. I wanted to understand what kind of social-political-economic system was developing in China and what role will it play in the world.

Are there any anecdotes from the researching and writing process that you would like to share with us?

On the first day in Shanghai, my family got lost and wandered into a restaurant. We must have looked like we were from outer space. The whole staff of the place including the cooks came out to watch us eat. They were amazed that we could use chopsticks. I asked for soy sauce for the rice in every way imaginable. They had no idea what I wanted.

I saw a picture in a book store of a Mandarin from the 19th century. He had a 17 inch fingernail on one finger. A sign of his exalted status, he did no physical labor. This system was in place for 2000 years up to the beginning of the 20th century. It still casts a shadow over government-society relations.
I could go on forever.

Who would you recommend read this book?

Social scientists interested in China. Business professors interested in China. Executives who do business with China or plan to. This latter audience is important I think. Once I get my copies I will be giving them to executives and will have much more feedback from them in a few months. Basically I am an anthropologist with a strong interest in ethics, especially how culture and ethics are related. My book focuses on how American and Chinese business cultures interact. It is a qualitative (interpretive) book. Much of it can be understood and appreciated by a general educated public. I think government officials who work with China will appreciate the book. A big part of the book deals with government and business-government relations. I have heard from a business professor in Hong Kong and one in Singapore. They both expressed very strong interest in the book. I think the book will draw strong interest in places like that, e.g. Taiwan and Japan too.

If you could encourage readers to take away one thing from this book, what would it be?

The Chinese have a great and often misunderstood culture. There is much to learn from it.

How can this book be used to inform business practice in a practical sense?

It is very practical to understand a little about Chinese culture and institutions, to understand the person and context you are dealing with. This would significantly lower miscommunications and inappropriate expectations.
 

Trouble in the Middle is a study of ethical and cultural issues in American-Chinese business relations. Based on interviews of American business executives in the United States, American and Chinese business executives in China, and visits to American and Chinese operations in China, the research focuses on challenges to doing business in China. The Chinese economic reforms are analyzed in detail to determine the type of business system that is emerging. Specific attention is given to the different ethical and cultural assumptions that American and Chinese executives bring to doing business with each other. A concept of the cultural middle is developed to help managers do business in foreign cultures. Several chapters focus on the role of corruption in the China market, both business-government corruption and business to business corruption. Two chapters deal with intellectual property rights issues and the thorny process of addressing them in China. Running through the entire book are detailed discussions of the role of the Chinese middleman in American-Chinese business relations, especially in regard to facilitating bribe payments. The middleman is seen as a key to understanding Chinese culture. The research is related to broader issues concerning China’s historical struggle to modernize its economy and globalization.

The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan plunged the country into a state of crisis. As the nation struggled to recover from a record breaking magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami that was as high as thirty-eight meters in some places, news trickled out that Fukushima had experienced meltdowns in three reactors. These tragic catastrophes claimed some 20,000 lives, initially displacing some 500,000 people and overwhelming Japan's formidable disaster preparedness.

This book brings together the analysis and insights of a group of distinguished experts on Japan to examine what happened, how various institutions and actors responded and what lessons can be drawn from Japan’s disaster. The contributors, many of whom experienced the disaster first hand, assess the wide-ranging repercussions of this catastrophe and how it is already reshaping Japanese culture, politics, energy policy, and urban planning.

Read the review by The Japan Times here.

Order your complimentary e-inspection copy here.

View the rest of the titles in the Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies series here.

Since its birth in 1993, the EU has become a heterogeneous collection of states diverse in terms of history and culture, economic development, fiscal regimes, and welfare and employment institutions, yet economically bound to each other in ways never before seen on the continent outside of conquest. From some fronts it started soon to be expected that Europe would have entailed to a European system of Industrial relations as the “social” response to the process of European economic integration and monetary union. This book shows how the process of European industrial relations as the result of EU has been accompanied by major challenges along its course. It shows how much of these challenges stem from the dynamics of the simultaneous widening and deepening of the European Union, as well as social changes and technological advance. The national institutions of employment relations, specifically those concerning collective bargaining, and their social actors, in particular those representing the interests of employers and employees as well as national and local governments have had to adapt accordingly to the changing European economic environment.

Following key current changes in employment relations thought from mid-1980s to the present day, the book examines the profound causes of these transformations. From the internationalization and intensification of competition, which unleashed intense pressures on nationally-based employment systems as firms sought looser multi-employer arrangements to facilitate restructuring and flexibility to determine pay, working time and employment conditions; it deeply investigates the continued shift of employment from (large-scale) manufacturing to services which meant that the workforce became increasingly diverse and dispersed. The gender and occupational re-composition of the labor force, and the accompanying fragmentation of employment across smaller workplaces and ‘atypical’ forms, raised serious problems for traditional models of recruitment and organization. The information and communication technology (ICT) revolution increased the pace of change within organizations, encouraging new forms of flexible work organization that challenged established norms including for the ‘core’ blue-collar workforce. In the political arena, a deregulation agenda developed informed by neoliberal market ideologies. Within organizations, labor management was increasingly informed by the philosophies and practices of ‘human resource management’ (HRM). This emphasized the importance of employee flexibility and performance and showed less concern for traditional, collective forms of labor regulation. Other challenges relate to increased labor mobility, especially from the ‘new member states’ to the larger economies.

The Transformations of Employment Relations tells a fascinating story about how employment relationships have changed, shifted, evolved and developed down through the centuries in the European Union. The thematic comparative approach of this book makes it unique. Students taking classes in industrial and employment relations, sociology, political science, labor history, human resource management and international business will find this text to be the perfect accompaniment to their studies and will be a captivating read for anyone else.
 

Browse all titles in the series here.

Professor Sakwa is an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the Advisory Boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow, chair of the Advisory Board of the Eurasian Political Studies Network and, since September 2002, a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.

Reviews for the series:

"Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections." - A. Siaroff, CHOICE, 2010 (Democratic Elections in Poland, 1991-2007).

"This excellent collection is a coherent and well-informed introduction to the economic and social transformations in a major Soviet ‘rustbelt’region, as well as to the economic conundrums of post-Communist Ukraine." - Serhy Yekelchyk, Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 89, no. 2, April 2011 (Re-Constructing the Post-Soviet Industrial Region).

"A valuable addition to Russian foreign-policy analysis, especially for its use of comparison between policies towards China and Japan in order to explain different trends in Russian thinking about its own identity in the turbulent period of the last two decades." -Stephen Aris, University of Birmingham, Europe-Asia Studies (Russian Policy towards China and Japan).

To see the full interview, visit Jadaliyya here.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in Egypt from the late 1990s to 2011, Environmental Politics in Egypt shows how experts and activists used distinctive approaches to influence state and firm decision-making in three important environmental policy domains. These include; industrial pollution from large-scale industry, the conservation of threatened habitat, and water management of the irrigation system.

These cases show how environmental networks sought to construct legal, discursive, and infrastructural forms of authority within the context of a fragmented state apparatus and a highly centralized political regime. ‘Managerial networks’, composed of environmental scientists, technocrats, and consultants, sought to create new legal regimes for environmental protection and to frame environmental concerns so that they would appeal to central decision-makers. Activist networks, in contrast, emerged where environmental pollution or exclusion from natural resources threatened local livelihoods and public health. These networks publicized their concerns and mobilized broader participation through the creative use of public space, media coverage, and strategic use of existing state-sanctioned organizations.

With the increased popular mobilization of the 2000s, and the mass protests of the 2011 revolution, environmental politics has become highly topical. Expert and activist networks alike have sought to broaden their appeal and diversify their approaches. The result may well be a more contested, participatory, and dynamic phase in Egyptian environmentalism.
 

Bruce Berglund, host of New Books in Sports, interviewed Dennis Deninger, author of Sports on Television: The How and Why Behind What You See, last week.

The interview will also be available on iTunes soon but we've got it first! Why not take a listen to what he has to say now?

http://newbooksinsports.com/2013/02/19/dennis-deninger-sports-on-television-the-how-and-why-behind-what-you-see-routledge-2012/

Professor Philip Haynes argues in his book Public Policy Beyond the Financial Crisis for more innovative approaches to monetary and fiscal policy to revive the UK economy. He makes the case for a whole systems approach to macroeconomic policy rather than focusing on fixed indicators like inflation or growth targets. Philip Haynes recently submitted evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on Quantitative Easing.

Why not take a look? Click here or follow the link below to read his written evidence:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmtreasy/writev/qe/contents.htm

Order your complimentary exam copy today by clicking here.

The latest edition of this comprehensive and user-friendly textbook provides a single volume resource for all those studying Japan's international relations. It offers a clear and concise introduction to the most important aspects of Japan's role in the globalized economy of the twenty-first century. The book has been fully updated and revised to include comprehensive discussions of contemporary key issues for Japan’s IR, including:

• the rise of China;
• reaction to the global economic and financial crisis since 2008;
• Japan’s proactive role after 9/11 and the war on terror;
• responses to events on the Korean Peninsula;
• relations with the USA and the Obama administration;
• relations with Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East;
• changing responses to an expanding and deepening European Union.

Extensively illustrated, the text includes statistics, maps, photographs, summaries and suggestions for further reading, making it essential reading for those studying Japanese politics and the international relations of the Asia Pacific.

Reviews

'The launch of China’s first aircraft carrier, North Korea’s belated return to the Six Party Talks, the crisis over the Fukushima nuclear reactor, renewed Japanese interest in regional institutions, concern about the US economy, political instability in Japan itself – these are the stuff of current commentary in mid-2011. This, the third edition of this widely used textbook on the International Relations of Japan, gives the reader a firm grasp of the political complexities behind all this. East Asia, as the authors are fully aware, is moving to centre stage, with potential both for solving global problems and for destructive conflict.' Professor J. A. A. Stockwin, former Director, Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies, University of Oxford

'Japan's foreign policy has been undergoing seismic shifts since the second edition of this fine book. A rising China, a now-nuclear North Korea, and an America bogged down in wars in Central Asia and the Middle East are but the most conspicuous of the major new challenges that confront Japanese policymakers. Experts and novices alike will find no deeper or more up-to-date analysis of these subjects than this new edition of Japan's International Relations.' Professor T.J. Pempel, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, USA

The author of Neoliberal Morality in Singapore discusses the unintended consequences of policymaking in an article for the Singapore TODAY.