The historical context

This chapter introduces the historical background to contemporary Pacific Asian politics. It focuses in particular on the evolution of political structures and institutions, patterns of modern state building and modern political development, and their implications for contemporary government and politics. As this is a political science textbook, we shall not dwell too much on historical details, such as who did what, when it occurred and what happened. What this chapter will do is to present a sketch of the evolution of significant political structures and government institutions and discuss the tensions and issues the process has brought to bear on contemporary government and politics.