President Donald Trump’s implausible second term has shaken the West’s faith in democracy, a bedrock principle of so-called liberal societies. Ongoing Pacific Century and rise of China discourses sustain Western admiration for, but also critiques of, East Asia. For example, recent social unrest under President Yoon Suk Yeol, coupled with the Korean public’s swift response, earned immediate praise from Western analysts. Accordingly, post-colonial, post-authoritarian South Korea had seemingly emerged as a rare bastion of democracy in a world increasingly under threat from anti-democratic, authoritarian governance. Likewise, continual anxieties over global AI arms race supremacy have led Western countries to predictably criticize China for its alleged abuses of democracy and human rights.
Critical of the accepted authenticity and universality of democracy, both in theory and in practice, this edited volume welcomes contributors who engage with any of the following questions: how might we productively disrupt conventional notions of democracy by thinking of Asia transnationally? How do different countries in East Asia interpret and enact supposed democratic (and undemocratic) principles in the context of historic and contemporary conditions? Finally, considering Asian and Asian American studies as disciplinary examples, how might a decolonial, transnational approach to Area Studies productively challenge assumed democratic (and undemocratic) processes unfolding within and beyond contemporary Asia? We welcome papers across disciplinary approaches including (but not limited to) anthropology, sociology, history, Asian studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, and political science. Prospective contributors are asked to send their abstracts by May 31st, 2025 to transnational.asia@rice.edu.
This issue will be edited by guest editor, Alex Jong-Seok Lee. Alex Jong-Seok Lee is an independent scholar interested in the scholarly intersection of Asian Studies and Asian American Studies. Formally a visiting professor of global studies at the University of the South and a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University’s Chao Center for Asian Studies, he received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.