Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Alfaro, Margarita / Lalagianni, V. et al. (textes reunis), Voyage et ideologie: les politiques de la mobilite (Orient, Afrique, Asie, XXe siecle). (Voyages) 2022:12 (Ed. du Bourg, FR) <696-596>
ISBN 978-2-490650-23-1 paper ¥7,392.- (税込) EUR 24.00

Wyatt, Don J., Slavery in East Asia. (Elements in the Global Middle Ages) 75 pp. 2023:1 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <696-600>
ISBN 978-1-00-900170-0 paper ¥4,843.- (税込) GB￡ 17.00

In premodern China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, just as in the far less culturally cohesive countries composing the West of the Middle Ages, enslavement was an assumed condition of servitude warranting little examination, as the power and profits it afforded to the slaver made it a convention pursued unreflectively. Slavery in medieval East Asia shared with the West the commonplace assumption that nearly all humans were potential chattel, that once they had become owned beings, they could then be either sold or inherited. Yet, despite being representative of perhaps the most universalizable human practice of that age, slavery in medieval East Asia was also endowed with its own distinctive traits and traditions. Our awareness of these features of distinction contributes immeasurably to a more nuanced understanding of slavery as the ubiquitous and openly practiced institution that it once was and the now illicit and surreptitious one that it intractably remains.

儒教的立憲主義
Kim, Sungmoon, Confucian Constitutionalism: Dignity, Rights, and Democracy. 304 pp. 2023:5 (Oxford U. Pr., US) <696-494>
ISBN 978-0-19-763061-7 hard ¥17,894.- (税込) US$ 83.00 *

Ongoing debates among political theorists revolve around the question of whether the overarching goal of Confucianism-serving the people's moral and material wellbeing-is attainable in modern day politics without broad democratic participation. One side of the debate, voiced by Confucian meritocrats, argues that only certain people are equipped with the moral character needed to lead and ensure broad public wellbeing. The other side, voiced by Confucian democrats, argues that unless all citizens participate equally in the public sphere, a polity cannot attain the moral growth that Confucianism emphasizes. Written by one of the leading voices of Confucian political theory, Confucian Constitutionalism presents a constitutional theory of democratic self-government that is normatively appealing and politically practicable in East Asia's historically Confucian societies, which are increasingly pluralist, multicultural, and rights sensitive. While Confucian political theorists are preoccupied with how to build a Confucianism-inspired institution that would make a given polity more meritorious, Sungmoon Kim offers a robust normative theory of Confucian constitutionalism-what he calls "Confucian democratic constitutionalism"-with special attention to value pluralism and moral disagreement. Building on his previous theory of Confucian democracy, Kim establishes egalitarian human dignity as the underlying moral value of Confucian democratic constitutionalism and derives two foundational rights from Confucian egalitarian dignity-the equal right to political participation and the equal right to constitutional protection of civil and political rights. He then shows how each of these rights justifies the establishment of the legislature and the judiciary respectively as two independent constitutional institutions equally committed to the protection and promotion of the people's moral and material wellbeing, now reformulated in terms of rights. Aiming to contribute to both political theory and comparative law, Confucian Constitutionalism explains how Confucian democratic constitutionalism differs from and improves upon liberal legal constitutionalism, political constitutionalism, and Confucian meritocratic constitutionalism.

Lust, Ellen M., Everyday Choices: The Role of Competing Authorities and Social Institutions in Politics and Development. (Elements in the Politics of Development) 75 pp. 2022:12 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <696-200>
ISBN 978-1-00-930612-6 paper ¥4,843.- (税込) GB￡ 17.00 *

Scholars and practitioners seek development solutions through the engineering and strengthening of state institutions. Yet, the state is not the only or the primary arena shaping how citizens, service providers and state officials engage in actions that constitute politics and development. These individuals are members of religious orders, ethnic communities, and other groups that make claims on them, creating incentives that shape their actions. Recognizing how individuals experience these claims and view the choices before them is essential to understanding political processes and development outcomes. This Element establishes a framework elucidating these forces, which is key to knowledge accumulation, designing future research and effective programming. Taking an institutional approach, this Element explains how the salience of arenas of authority associated with various communities and the nature of social institutions within them affect politics and development. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Kowner, Rotem (ed.), Jewish Communities in Modern Asia: Their Rise, Demise and Resurgence. 320 pp. 2023:4 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <696-143>
ISBN 978-1-00-916258-6 hard ¥24,216.- (税込) GB￡ 85.00 *

Jewish settlement in Asia, beyond the Middle East, is largely a modern phenomenon. Imperial expansion and adventurism by Great Britain and Russia were the chief motors that initially drove Jewish settlers to move eastwards, in the nineteenth century, combined as this was with the rise of port cities and general development of the global economy. The new immigrants soon become centrally involved, in ways quite disproportionate to their numbers, in Asian commerce. Their role and centrality finished with the outbreak of World War II, the chaos that resulted from the fighting, and the consequent collapse of Western imperialism. This unique, ground-breaking book charts their rise and fall while pointing to signs of these communities' post-war resurgence and revival. Fourteen chapters by many of the most prominent authorities in the field, from a range of perspectives, explore questions of identity, society, and culture across several Asian locales. It is essential reading for scholars of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies.