This is an important volume on the hotly debated topic of democracy, human rights and civil society in South East Asia, a region that has witnessed a confrontation between the old order of authoritarian regimes and strong states on one hand, and the new democratic forces embedded in an emerging civil society, on the other. The focus of the book is on the evolution of debates about democracy and human rights during the decade following the end of the Cold War in 1989 to the 1997–98 Asian economic crisis, with the latter being regarded as the watershed that unleashed the democratic forces. The book consists of nine chapters, plus an introduction and a conclusion, contributed by nine political scientists. Except for Johan Saravanamuttu, who is from the region under study, the other contributors are Southeast Asianists teaching at various universities in Canada, the United States, and Australia.

The book addresses three inter-related questions. First, whether economic growth would produce a momentum towards democracy and human rights, or would “performance legitimacy” of the developmental states preclude such outcomes. Second, the universalist versus the culturally relativist debate about the nature of human rights and democracy in Asia; and third, whether the emerging civil society in Asian countries would have an impact on the evolution of human rights and democracy, and if so, to what extent.

Many arguments in the book are quite refreshing particularly those that deal with civil society, which is the book's central theme. The term “civil society”—while highly in vogue—is unfortunately a grey area and a contested concept that has been used rather loosely by many authors. Nevertheless, the two chapters in the book, written respectively by Gary Rodan and Johan Saravanamuttu, make a significant contribution by clarifying the issue analytically and empirically.

The proposition that civil society is the space between the individual (or family) and the state, and is made up of associational groupings of sorts—while useful—is problematic. All sorts of associations—democratic and undemocratic, or even fascist and criminal—can inhabit that space. Thus, it is vital for the concept to be fleshed out, specifying it—as Rodan does—to refer only to “a particular form of political space—the least restrictive,” and making the necessary distinction between civic and civil society (61). This is complemented by Saravanamuttu's usage of the “third sector” (equivalent to Gramsci's “political society”) which, to him, is the core of civil society that politically engages the state on various issues on behalf of the citizenry in pursuit of democracy, human rights, and so on.

Nevertheless, some parts of the book leave the reader with a rather unpleasant intellectual aftertaste. The volume editors begin with a discussion on “Third Wave Democratization,” and draw attention to the fact that within the span of a decade, the discourse on human rights and democracy in Asia has undergone major shifts. But the assumption about democracy is Western-style liberal democracy, and the volume generally seems to be upbeat about transitions to such a form of democracy, giving the impression that there is only one version of democracy. The most persuasive chapter taking this line of argument is the one by Michael Frolic who uses the “transition theory” or “transitology” when dealing with transitions to democracy after the Cold War. According to him, Asian countries including China, in the long term “will follow the Western pathway of transition”; though in the short term, these transitions will be erratic, hesitant, slow and uneven, he believes that “political change is in the (East) wind” (34). What is disturbing in his argument, which follows the old down-trodden path of modernization theory, is that the key factors to induce such change must come from the outside, the West. While it is true that “External factors play a key role in the flow of ideas and values of Western democracy as well as exposing Asians to the commerce and technology of the West” (34), the internal dynamics and its engagement with the external is very important to be captured. To be fair, the author's argument is not a reinvention of the White Man's burden. Also, it was written before 9/11 and the US-led “war on terror,” with the resultant human rights abuses and mockery of democracy committed by the so-called champion of liberal democracy—the US itself—thus inviting a serious re-look at the whole idea and practice of liberal democracy. Nevertheless, one would appreciate a nuanced rethinking that should stay clear of any biased lenses (Western or Eastern) so that one can achieve some intellectual breakthrough in the varied theorizations of democracy (or democracies) and modernity in the contemporary world.

The editors also raise unnecessary expectations when in the Introduction, they ask the important question “is Asia on the verge of a democratic revolution?” (11–12). However, the question is not adequately answered. The conclusion is very cautious, viz: “Prospects for the future of civil society, human rights and democracy, while better than at any point in the past, remain decidedly uncertain” (208)—which is quite an anti-climax to the raised hopes of “a democratic revolution.” Finally, the book would look better if it included an index.

Nevertheless, the book is an important contribution to the discourse on democracy, human rights and civil society in general, and in South East Asia in particular.