Informal Politics in East Asia by Lowell Dittmer; Haruhiro Fukui; Peter N. S. LeeReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 2000), p. 190Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20050023 .

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missionary-teacher and the East as the

lotus-eating, opium-smoking pleasure seeker has been reversed. Now the East

is the stern lecturer on "Asian values"

(which Singaporeans and Malaysians

originally learned from their British

masters) and the whores of Babylon are

in London and New York. Fortunately, his forced theme is not pushed much

beyond the introduction. Instead, this

clever and thoughtful writer has produced

page after page of witty and insightful

analysis, displaying his exceptional literary skills and his deep knowledge of Asia's cultural scene.

Informal Politics in East Asia, edited by

LOWELL DITTMER, HARUHIRO

FUKUI, AND PETER N.S. LEE. New

York: Cambridge University Press, 2000, 330 pp. $59.95 (paper $19.95).

This scholarly examination of the political role of personal relationships and informal

networks in Asia provides an authoritative

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the authors make clear, it is impossible to

appreciate the full political dynamic in

China, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam

without accounting for the importance of such relationships. Separate chapters address the psychological and cultural

foundations of informal groupings and

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proach to politics?which has dominated

European political thought and stresses

the separation of state and society?does not necessarily apply to Asia, where

society-based relations powerfully affect

political life. Even under the strict disci

pline of communism, for example, Chinese

guanxi (connections) often provided the

bases for factional politics. In all the coun

tries examined by the authors, informal

networks have had both positive and

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for quick communication and action but

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Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan, and

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Press, 2000, 286 pp. $18.95 (paPer) The Kashmiri conflict has taken on even

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in 1998. Schofield has reviewed the entire

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began in 1846, when the British "sold"

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[190] FOREIGN AFFAIRS- Volume 79 No. 6

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