Drug Law Reform in East and Southeast Asia is a multi-author look at drugs in East and Southeast Asia, on drug policy, patterns and trends, local problems, human rights abuses, treatment prospects, and potential reforms. From the history of drugs in Asia, the book examines recent trends in illicit drugs, especially the present enormous amphetamine problems. It addresses recent policy shifts, especially harm reduction responses to the devastating drug-associated HIV epidemics. It explores further necessary reform, especially in regard to the abysmally inhuman current emphasis on detention and the death penalty for drug offences, and present the most recent evidence on effective and humane approaches to drug treatments. As the first comprehensive collection on illicit drug and harm reduction in East and Southeast Asia, it will be a vital resource for health professionals, policymakers, and others working there—and elsewhere—on drug policy reform. As the first comprehensive collection on illicit drugs and harm reduction in East and Southeast Asia, it will be a vital resource for health professionals, policymakers, and others working on East and Southeast Asia—and elsewhere—on drug policy.

The daily robbing, bashing, drugging, extortion and murder of foreign tourists on Thai soil, along with numerous scandals involving unsafe facilities and well established scams, has led to frequent predictions that Thailand's multi-billion dollar tourist industry will self-destruct. Instead tourist numbers more than doubled in the decade to 2014. The world might not have come to the hometowns of the many visitors fascinated by Thailand, but it certainly came to the Land of Smiles. While the Thai media is heavily censored, and bad news stories about tourists suppressed, nonetheless there is more than enough evidence to demonstrate that something has gone seriously awry with the nation's tourist industry. In 2014, just as in the years preceding it, there were train, bus, ferry, speedboat, motorbike and car accidents, murders, knifings, unexplained deaths, numerous suicides, diving accidents, robberies gone wrong, anonymous bodies washing up on the shores and a string of alcohol and drug related incidents. Thailand had a dying king and serious succession problems, weak democratic institutions, an economy slipping into recession, faced issues of corruption across many of its key services and was host to international crime syndicates, awash with despised foreigners and drifting perilously towards civil war. Tourists choose one destination over another for a number of reasons, most of which Thailand scores highly on. But on the core issue of tourist safety, Thailand scores very badly indeed.

DIVSince the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democratic—especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats./divDIV /divDIVBut what if the failures of democracy are not exceptions? In this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions. Instead, it reflects a new and disturbing trend: democracy in worldwide decline. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries, why the middle class has turned against democracy in some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible./div

The introduction to this annual publication reflects on recent events and recent changes in the world. The body of the annual report considers the human rights record of some 150 governments throughout the world.

Health Rights is a multidisciplinary collection of seminal papers examining ethical, legal, and empirical questions regarding the human right to health or health care. The volume discusses what obligations health rights entail for governments and other actors, how they relate to and potentially conflict with other rights and values, and how cultural diversity bears on the formulation and implementation of health rights. The paramount importance of such questions is illustrated, among other things, by the catastrophic health situation in developing countries and current debates about the TRIPS Agreement and health care reform in the United States. The volume is divided into five main parts which focus on philosophical questions about the bases for the right to health or health care; links between health and human rights; global bioethics and public health ethics; intellectual property rights in pharmaceuticals; and finally health rights issues arising in specific contexts such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and gender.

This book analyzes the overall effect of American primacy on social and political conflicts in Asia, discussing how the post-Cold War American agenda does not promote democratization in the region, in contradiction to one of the major proclaimed aims of the proponents of the Pax Americana. This team of renowned scholars argue that the US agenda can strengthen anti-democratic impulses in Asian societies, exacerbating and complicating existing domestic conflicts and struggles. Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia also examines how the requirements of the War on Terror intersect with, and reinforce, those of transnationalized sections of American capital. Drawing on country case studies, this multidisciplinary book looks at the ramifications of the American Empire for the Asian region and will appeal to anyone interested in Asian politics, international relations, political economy, development studies and sociology.

First published in 2007. Political demands for autonomy and independence by radicalized ethnic groups have recently intensi?ed as a result of the globalization of the post-Cold War world. In addition to facing the challenges posed by democratization, development and social movements, governments everywhere are striving to manage and contain ‘political Islam’. This is particularly true in Southeast Asia, where the violence and instability caused by Islamic radical groups have affected the consolidation of liberal democracy in the region. This volume examines the roles of the state and of civil society in three of the new democracies in Southeast Asia – the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Focussing on the way these democracies address the in-creased threat posed to their nation-building projects by political Islam, Islam and Violent Separatism makes an important contribution to the understanding of new security risks, terrorism, democratic consolidation and contemporary Southeast Asian politics.

There is extensive and detailed academic literature on the legal development of international crimes such as war crimes and crime against humanity. However, not much attention has been paid to other serious crimes, including narcotics-related offences, human trafficking and money laundering, which do not necessarily amount to international crimes in the traditional sense. The purpose of this monograph is to fill this gap and offer a critical analysis of developments in the field of transnational organised crime under international law. The book is divided into two parts. Part I is entitled "Norms, Principles, and Concepts." It traces the history of organised crime and explores key concepts and norms relating to the practice from a multi-disciplinary perspective. It then looks at legal obligations imposed upon States as well as non-State actors in relation to transnational organised crime. Part II illustrates how these norms, principles and obligations are translated and enforced in practice. This will be done through case studies at the level of national law (Thailand, Serbia and the UK), regional law (European Union) and international law (United Nations). "A book of many parts, its thematic coherence comes from its devotion to identifying the social threat posed by organised crime and the legal steps taken at the international and national levels against that threat. Rich with example and illustration and written in a light, direct, style, it will provide a lucid guide for practitioners, policy-makers and students to the largely untraversed territory of the international legal system set up to suppress transnational organised crime." Professor Neil Bolster, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. "...the international law governing organized crime is a close relative of the body of law applicable to the International Criminal Court and similar institutions. It provides a forum to address issues of more general concern, such as the scope of universal jurisdiction, immunities, statutory limitation and extradition. Tom Obokata's study, with its original and in some ways unique perspective, enriches our knowledge of the field". Professor William Schabas, Irish Centre for Human Rights. "The book is well written, its documentation is quite exhaustive, and its thesis is timely and compelling." Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University College of Law.

With its focus on the offshore randomized control trials of a Pre-Exposure Prophylactic pill (PrEP) for preventing HIV infection, the volume develops a sustained analysis of the complex, virtual and topological dimensions of the expectations, ethics and evidence that surround the innovation of PrEP.