Moves by the Park Administration to reintroduce a state-authored history textbook system are seen by many South Koreans as an attempt to gloss over recent history, writes HYUNG-A KIM. President Park Geun-hye’s recent move to replace privately published middle and high school history textbooks with a single, state-authored history textbook system by early 2017 has […]
Myanmar’s post-1962 history of ‘power transfers’ by the military is cause for wariness, writes MYINT ZAN. In late 1973, an article titled ‘Power transfer just around the corner’ appeared in the government-controlled and now-defunct English-language newspaper The Guardian, published in Rangoon. A little history of that ‘transfer of power’ is in order. On 2 March […]
Nepal promulgates a democratic constitution, India imposes an unofficial blockade. HEMANT OJHA and RAMESH SUNAM look behind the rising tensions between two close neighbours. After six decades of political struggle, Nepal promulgated a new democratic constitution in September that also marked the end of a decade-long Maoist war. Neighbouring India, however, did not welcome Nepal’s […]
With the main political opposition disabled and an increasingly authoritarian government, Cambodia faces a political crisis, writes JONATHAN BOGAIS. Cambodia is on the brink of a political crisis, facing a return to the autocratic modus operandi that has been the hallmark of its politics for many years. This follows a sudden government crackdown on the […]
The seventieth anniversary of the ending of the Pacific War has prompted a resurgence in war-graves tourism in Japan, writes BEATRICE TREFALT. In Japan, the seventieth anniversary, in September, of the Japanese defeat prompted reminiscences of misery and bombing damage on the home front. The anniversary also reignited controversies over wartime atrocities, such as the […]
There are disturbing signs that the latest electoral victory for President Erdoğan’s party could result in the entrenchment of an authoritarian regime. WILLIAM GOURLAY looks at the lead-up to the 1 November elections, and the aftermath. The general election in Turkey on 1 November surprised pundits and politicians alike when the Justice and Development Party […]
