ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to stimulate additional thinking about political change in Asia with attention to two questions important to the study of comparative politics. The first question is how the processes of globalization have affected domestic and transnational politics in the Asian region, and the second is how political thought or institutions in Asian countries have influenced—or might influence—issues in comparative politics. The tensions in India are but one example of the transformation of our rights consciousness that began with colonialism, was bolstered by European and American economic prowess in the twentieth century, and has accelerated with contemporary political and economic globalization. In 1994, the annual report of the United Nations Development Program emphasized the theme of human security, as meaning "freedom from fear and freedom from want." One of the most provocative ways Asian traditions expand the boundaries of the social is in the relationship between nature and humans.
