Challenges of Development: Asian Perspectives

This book collects the essays of a distinguished group of scholars, practitioners and officials focusing on Asia, one of the key areas of the developing world. The themes presented in this book reflect topical challenges faced by this continent in its much striven efforts for development. The editors’ intention has been to promote the knowledge of the perception by Asian Countries of their developing needs and of the policy measures that can be used to foster development. What is the role assigned, in the perspective of key Asian countries, to crucial factors like fundamental rights, the rule of law, environmental protection, trade liberalization? The concepts of development, environmental protection, climate change, use and distribution of natural resources are discussed through the well-known paradigm of sustainable development. But this exercise is more focused, being carried out through the lens of key ideas, and from the perspective of the various countries-areas and the personal views of the respective authors. These key notions are the rights to life and to development, and more generally human rights, equitable distribution of resources, common but differentiated responsibility, the pivotal role of finance, trade and knowledge-and-technology transfer to developing countries to trigger and support sustainable development. Analyzing the challenges of development from an Asian perspective does not lead to results which are only of limited interest to this continent. It is exactly because of its protean complexity that Asia can offer useful lessons for development in other areas of the developing world – and maybe even beyond.