ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes a framework for analyzing a range of factors which is believed to be critical to understanding, interpreting and predicting the ethnic dimensions of the new directions in social relationships and policy. It investigates globalizations as the major determinant of changing relationships among state, market and civil society. The chapter explores the complexities of governance under pressures of globalizations. The 'new' social movements, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and local associations—that is, the various actors which feature centrally in processes of globalization—have created significant challenges for governance at the turn of the century. The normative aspects of governance involve ideas which capture people's imagination and serve as motivation for political action. Recently, in both Asia and Africa, such ideas have emerged and, in the former, a normative discourse has developed around the notion of 'Asian values', and in the latter, around 'African renaissance'.
