Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities: Spaces of Depoliticization PDF
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POST-POLITICS AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN ASIAN CITIES Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities examines how the concept of ‘post-politics’ has manifested across a range of Asian cities, and the impact this has had on state-society relationships in processes of urban governance. This volume examines how the post-political framework—derived from the study of Western liberal democracies—applies to Asian cities. Appreciating that the region has undergone a distinctive trajectory of political development, and is currently governed under democratic or authoritarian regimes, the book articulates how post-political conditions have created obstacles or opportunities for civil society to assert its voice in urban governance. Chapters address the different ways in which Asian civil society groups strive to gain a stake in the development and management of cities, specifically by looking at their involvement in heritage and environmental governance, two inter-related components in discourses about establishing liveable cities for the future. By providing in-depth case studies examining the varying degrees to which post-political ideologies have been enacted in urban governance across Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia, this book offers a useful and timely resource for students and scholars interested in urban studies, political science, Asian studies, geography, and sociology. Sonia Lam-Knott was a postdoctoral fellow in the Asian Urbanisms Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. She received her DPhil in anthropology from the University of Oxford in 2015, for her research on youth activism in Hong Kong. Her research explores the socio-political ambiguities in post-1997 Hong Kong, viewed through the lens of heritage politics, nostalgia, and vernacular experiences of the city. She has published in journals such as Asian Anthropology, Anthropology Matters, and Urban Studies, as well as in edited volumes. Creighton Connolly is a lecturer in the School of Geography, University of Lincoln (UK), focussing on development studies and the Global South. He is an urban political ecologist by training, having received his PhD in geography from the University of Manchester, where he was a member of the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE). His research focuses primarily on contestations over urban (re)development and environmental governance in peninsular Malaysia. He has published this work in numerous journals, including the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), Cultural Geographies, and Geoforum. Kong Chong Ho was trained as an urban sociologist at the University of Chicago, and his research interests lie in neighbourhood and community development, heritage and place- making, the political economy of cities, and a more recent interest in higher education. He has produced edited volumes such as Service Industries and Asia Pacific Cities (2012, with Peter Daniels and Tom Hutton), and Advancing the Regional Commons in the New East Asia (2016, with Siriporn Wajjwalku and Osamu Yoshida). Forthcoming publications include Neighbourhoods for the City in Pacific Asia (2019). Politics in Asia series The Ever-Changing Sino-Japanese Rivalry Philip Streich Risk Management Strategies of Japanese Companies in China Political Crisis and Multinational Firms Kristin Vekasi The Political Economy of Press Freedom The Paradox of Taiwan versus China Jaw-Nian Huang Inequality and Democratic Politics in East Asia Edited by Chong-Min Park and Eric M. Uslaner India’s Maritime Strategy Balancing Regional Ambitions and China Shishir Upadhyaya Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities Spaces of Depoliticisation Edited by Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, and Kong Chong Ho Chinese Constructions of Sovereignty and the East China Sea Conflict Czeslaw Tubilewicz For the full list of titles in the series, visit: www.routledge.com/Politics-in-Asia/ book-series/PIA POST-POLITICS AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN ASIAN CITIES Spaces of Depoliticisation Edited by Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, and Kong Chong Ho First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, and Kong Chong Ho; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, and Kong Chong Ho to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lam-Knott, Sonia Yue Chuen, 1986– editor. | Connolly, Creighton, 1988– editor. | Ho, Kong-Chong, 1955– editor. Title: Post-politics and civil society in Asian cities : spaces of depoliticization / edited by Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, and Kong Chong Ho. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019032280 | ISBN 9780367278823 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367278830 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429298530 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Federal-city relations—Asia. | Civil society—Asia. | Asia—Politics and government. Classification: LCC JS6950 .P67 2019 | DDC 300.95/091732—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032280 ISBN: 978-0-367-27882-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-27883-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-29853-0 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC CONTENTS List of illustrations vii Acknowledgements viii Notes on contributors ix Introduction: theorising the post-political in Asian cities 1 Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly, and Kong Chong Ho PART I Post-political governance in Asia 19 1 A return to the political? civil society and post-politics in authoritarian regimes 21 David Matijasevich 2 Managing grievances in the age of post-politics: the relocation of communities for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Myanmar 37 Tamas Wells 3 Emerging post-political city in Seoul 54 U-Seok Seo 4 Back to the land: post-political utopias of organic living 72 Karl Beelen vi Contents PART II Post-politics in heritage governance 91 5 Between state and society: heritage politics in urban China 93 Yujie Zhu 6 ‘Connecting Emotions through Wells’: heritage instrumentalisation, civic activism, and urban sustainability in Quanzhou, China 106 Yunci Cai PART III Post-politics in environmental governance 121 7 Constructing space for participatory governance in Vietnam: reflections from the Hanoi tree movement 123 Seohee Kwak 8 Environmental civil activism in Central Asia: emerging civil society governance and fragile relations with the state 140 Reina Artur Kyzy 9 Post-political planning and insurgent mobilisation in the post-disaster city: the experience of Tacloban City, Philippines, after Typhoon Haiyan 152 Dakila Kim P. Yee Index 173 ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 3.1 Changes in the number of citizen committees 66 6.1 The Calming Pagoda after refurbishment 111 7.1 Thematic network of public participation contexts in Vietnam 132 Tables 3.1 The elected mayors of Seoul 60 3.2 Timetable of the ‘Air Pollution Roundtable’ 68 7.1 Timeline summary of the Hanoi tree movement 126 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This edited volume was developed out of a 2018 conference, titled ‘(Re)concep- tualising Asian Civil Society in the Age of Post-Politics’, that took place at the Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore. From the discussions and conversations at this event, we realised there was a need for schol- arly work to further examine the relationship between the notions of post-politics, urban governance, and civil society, especially within the context of urban Asia. We thus decided to embark on this book project, inviting a number of individuals who presented at the conference to contribute. We would thus like to express our appreciation to ARI for their generous finan- cial support, and Sharon Ong of the ARI events team for providing us with much- needed administrative support, without which the conference would not have been possible. We would also like to thank Simon Bates at Routledge, who was receptive towards this edited volume since its inception, and has offered insightful feedback throughout the entire publication process. Our gratitude also extends to all the authors for their commitment and enthusiasm towards this edited volume, for their patience in responding to our editorial commentary, and for delivering their work in a timely manner. Thanks must be given to Nika Tay of ARI, who has offered indispensable editorial assistance. Finally, we would like to thank our family, friends, and colleagues whom supported us throughout the highlights and difficulties we encountered in convening this volume. CONTRIBUTORS Editors Sonia Lam-Knott was a postdoctoral fellow in the Asian Urbanisms Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. She received her DPhil in anthropology from the University of Oxford in 2015, for her research on youth activism in Hong Kong, which looks at the emergent political subjectivities and the changes in state–civil society relations in the contemporary city. Her research explores the socio-political ambiguities in post-1997 Hong Kong, viewed through the lens of heritage politics, nostalgia, and vernacular experiences of the city. Of particular interest are the divergent history narratives that have emerged in the her- itage spaces of the contemporary city, and how they are being received and experi- enced by ordinary citizens. She has published in journals such as Asian Anthropology, Anthropology Matters, and Urban Studies, as well as in edited volumes. Creighton Connolly is a lecturer in the School of Geography, University of Lin- coln (UK), focussing on development studies and the Global South. Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Asian Urbanisms Cluster of the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He is an urban political ecologist by training, having received his PhD in geography from the University of Manches- ter in June 2016, where he was a member of the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE). His research focuses primarily on contestations over urban (re)development, and environmental governance in peninsular Malaysia. He has published this work in numerous journals, including the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), Environment and Planning A, Cultural Geogra- phies, and Geoforum. Creighton’s teaching expertise is largely focussed on heritage, development studies, and political ecology.
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