Development Strategies, Identities, and Conflict in Asia

Development Strategies, Identities, and Conflict in Asia explores the links between Asian governments' development strategies and the nature and dynamics of inter-group violence. The overview chapters comprehensively assess the development doctrines, patterns of development, and levels and nature of violence in all Asian subregions, while case-study contributions focusing on eight countries explore the often surprising impacts of development initiatives on reducing or increasing inter-group conflict and violence ranging from West Asia to Southeast Asia. The variations in strategies and their impacts on multiple risks of violence can guide policymakers, development professionals, and activists committed to conflict-sensitive development.

William Ascher is Donald C. McKenna Professor of Government and Economics at Claremont McKenna College, USA and Director of the Pacific Basin Research Center at Soka University of America, USA. He has written six books covering multiple regions, including Asia, and has lectured in Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand.

Natalia S. Mirovitskaya is Senior Researcher and Lecturing Fellow at Duke Center for International Development, USA. She has published on sustainable development, environmental security, and peacebuilding, has taught in several countries, and has worked on executive education training of senior government officials from China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and other Asian countries.

1. War, Peace, and Many Shades in Between: Asia in the New Millennium; William Ascher and Natalia S. Mirovitskaya
2. The Nexus of Economic Strategies and Intergroup Violence; William Ascher and Natalia S. Mirovitskaya
3. Tribal Participation in India's Maoist Insurgency: Examining the Role of Economic Development Policies; Sumit Ganguly and Jennifer Oetken
4. Intra-State Conflicts and Development Strategies: The Baloch Insurgency in Pakistan; G. Shabbir Cheema
5. Development Strategies, Religious Relations, and Communal Violence in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia: A Cautionary Tale; Lorraine V. Aragon
6. Exploring the Relationship between Development and Conflict: The Malaysian Experience; Ananthi Al Ramiah and Thillainathan Ramasamy
7. Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Conflict: A case study on Japanese ODA to Vietnam; Edward M. Feasel
8. Socioeconomic Change, Intra-ethnic Competition and Political Salience of Ethnic Identities: The Cases of Turkey and Uzbekistan; Ebru Erdem-Akcay
9. Local vs. Transcendent Insurgencies: Why Economic Aid Helps Lower Violence in Dagestan, but not in Kabardino-Balkaria; Mikhail Alexseev
10. The Conflict-Development Nexus in Asia: Policy Approaches; William Ascher and Natalia S. Mirovitskaya