Human security is becoming increasingly pronounced in recent years due to changes in the security landscape of world politics. Yet, inter-state relations have continued to dominate security concerns in East Asia. This has, unfortunately, eluded the broader understanding of issues and challenges facing the peoples of East Asia.

Home to nations with rapid economic growth and development, East Asia is at the core of what some individuals have termed as the coming Asian Century. Years of economic liberalization and exposure to globalization have permitted the region to achieve high levels of interconnectedness from within and without in unprecedented ways. This has certainly reduced state control and opened up spaces for cross-border human activities. While economic wealth have increased substantially over the years, it has also brought about bigger income disparities, unsustainable safety nets and a surge in social problems from health issues to migratory concerns that threaten the safety and well-being of individuals.

Human Security: Securing East Asia's Future timely examines the fundamental issues causing human insecurities and evaluates the extent of which human security plays a role at the state and regional levels. Covering the different areas of threats to humans and applying case study materials, this volume provides an intellectual mix of perspectives that captures the relationship between people, state and region. This book will be of interest to those studying traditional and non-traditional security/threats, Asian human development and critical policy analysis.

Inhalt
Introduction: Human security development and the future of East Asia: Benny Teh Cheng Guan.- Part I: 1: The state, the people and responses to human security concerns: Human insecurities or liabilities?: The changing security paradigms and the case of North Korean refugees: Jaime Koh.- 2: Human insecurity in the People's Republic of China: The vulnerability of Chinese women to HIV/AIDS: Anna Marie Hayes.- 3: From national security to human security: population policy shifts in Vietnam: Kathleen A. Tobin.- 4: Irregular migration in Thailand: new possibilities for anti-trafficking and development programs: Jennryn Wetzler.- 5: Security in labor migration in the Philippines: national honor, family solidarity and migrants' protection: Asuncion Fresnoza-Flot.- Part II: Regional approaches to human security and policy implications: 6: Insecurity within and outside the state: the regional and local dynamics of environmental insecurity in the Mekong: Duncan NcDuie-Ra.- 7: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and climate change: a threat to national, regime and human security: Alfred Gerstl and Belinda Helmke.- 8: Depoliticizing natual disasters to enhance human security in a sovereignty-based context: lessons from Aceh(2004) to Yangon(2008): Delphine Alles.- 9: Human health threats and implications for regional security in Southeast Asia: James Campbell.- 10: The proliferation of trading agreements and implications of human livelihood: Benny Teh Cheng Guan.- 11 Human security, capital punishment and East Asian democracies: Sangmin Bae.- 12: An emerging human security threat on Pacific Island States: analyzing legal and politcal implications of territorial inundation: Chih-Chieh Chou.- Index.