Engaging Asian Reality: Its Ambiguities and Challenges

This is a tall order. Identifying and describing major social issues in a region with more than half of the world’s population is certainly not easy. Being the most dynamic region, economically at least, adds to the task. In the face of this challenge I have chosen to focus on geographical areas and issues that are within my limited purview of knowledge. First of all, I focus on East and particularly Southeast Asia. Second, my main areas of expertise cover labour, migration, and democratisation issues. It goes without saying that the topics presented here are rather selective and may overlook some other significant characteristics of the region. A deeper analysis is also beyond the scope of this presentation and I suffice with describing the phenomena in question