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Law, Capitalism and Power in Asia: The Rule of Law and Legal Institutions . Edited by Kanishka Jayasuriya. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. xiii, 345 pp.

The volume ends with country studies of India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Thailand chapter, written by editor Herrmann, asks whether Thailand can save its premier position in Southeast Asia in view of the 1997 economic crisis. He deals with the question by laying out the strengths and weaknesses of the Kingdom, touching on Thailand's relations with colonialists and on the nation's political culture which he argues is marked by a high degree of individualism, and which manifests itself in the absence of political party organization and a consequent instability. He suggests that democratization is occurring, but on Thai terms: respect for hierarchy, fatalism, debts of gratitude, absence of open conflict, respect for individual freedom, and the preservation of face. He predicts that this political culture will preclude future military coups d'etat. Certainly, all of these points are complex and controversial, especially when the reader notes that Herrmann's analysis of Thai security concerns, the Thai economy, the Thai military, and Thai culture, take just ten pages. The result is necessarily simplistic but nevertheless thought-provoking. Asia's Security Challenges does not add significantly new data or interpretations to our understanding of the region. The volume does present the reader with an overview of the crucial issues and makes the important point that security is no longer a narrow field. On the contrary, the new specialists must be well grounded in the economic, cultural, political, and strategic aspects of Asian societies if they want to understand Asia's security challenges.