This book offers a critical reassessment of the 'Asian values' debate, which dominated the human rights discourse in the late 1990s, and a reappraisal of the human rights situation in Asia since then. The chapters in this book contextualize the debate and examine in what ways the issues raised then continue to trouble Asian societies.

LEENA AVONIUS is Senior Researcher, Renvall Institute for Area and Cultural Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland.DAMIEN KINGSBURY is Associate Professor, and Associate Head (Research) of the School of International and Political Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Introduction; D.Kingsbury& L.Avonius Universalism and Exceptionalism in 'Asia'; D.Kingsbury Asia Values? Why Not, But How?; J.Chen Human Rights from the Left: The Early Chinese Democracy Movement and Reconciling Human Rights with Marxism; L.Paltemaa Chinese Values and Human Rights; A.Kent From Marsinah to Munir: Grounding Human Rights in Indonesia; L.Avonius From Asian Values to Singapore Exceptionalism; L.Wai-Teng Leong The Notions of Human Rights in Thai Context: Rhetoric or Substance on Asian Values; N.Thabchumpon Asian Values and Responses to Human Rights in Indonesia; K.Asplund Asian Values, Gender and Culture-Specific Development; P.Koskinen Colonial Modernity and the Nation-State: Debates in Japan in the Post-Cold War Years; M.Iwatake Walking the Line between 'War on Terror' and the Defence of Human Rights; R.Toivanen