Since the economic crisis of 1997, there have been significant social policy reforms in East Asia. Using the concept of the developmental welfare state, this book seeks to answer whether the welfare reforms in East Asia have extended social rights while maintaining its developmental credentials....

In the last two decades public policies have reflected a drive for accelerated global economic integration ('globalization'), associated with greater economic liberalization. The outcomes have been largely disappointing, even in the estimate of their designers. Rural livelihoods have become more...