What to read after Political Systems of East Asia?

Louis D. Hayes provides an innovative, interdisciplinary introduction to East Asian politics. It uses a thematic approach to trace the political-historical development of China, Korea, and Japan and analyze the social, cultural, political, and economic features of each country.

The book describes the ways in which a shared Confucian tradition and particular historical experiences of imperialism and war have affected each country's internal dynamics, responses to the outside world, and distinctive political developmental trajectory, especially since World War II.

While the book is structured to facilitate comparisons, it avoids the limitations of most comparative politics texts by focusing less on Western conceptions of state and governance and more on East Asian perspectives of the universe and how it operates. Even the considerations of contemporary policy issues in each country are cast in a wider framework that gives the discussion enduring value.