East Asia

About: East Asia is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17591 publications have been published within this topic receiving 274073 citations. The topic is also known as: Eastern Asia.

On the Nature of the 1994 East Asian Summer Drought

Abstract: East Asian countries experienced record-breaking heat waves and drought conditions during the summer monsoon season of 1994. This study documents the large-scale circulation associated with the drought and suggests a forcing mechanism responsible for the anomalous evolution of the East Asian monsoon. The results, based on Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) global assimilated data for 1985–94, indicate that the absence of monsoon rainfall during July 1994 over central China and the southern parts of Korea and Japan is due to the unusually early development of the climatological upper-level anticyclonic flow east of the Tibetan Plateau. The anomalous July anticyclonic circulation over the East Asian–northwestern Pacific region and the cyclonic circulation over the subtropical western Pacific, which are more typical of August, acted to reduce the moisture supply from the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean leading to suppressed rainfall over East Asia. The similarity of the July 1994 East Asian ...

The politics of democratization in korea: the role of civil society

Abstract: What role did civil society play in Korea's recent democratization? How does the Korean case compare with cases from other regions of the world? What is the current status of Korean democratic consolidation? What are the prospects for Korean democracy?In December 1997, for the first time in the history of South Korea (hereafter Korea), an opposition candidate was elected to the presidency. Korea became the first new democracy in Asia where a horizontal transfer of power occurred through the electoral process. Sunhyuk Kim's study of democratization in Korea argues that the momentum for political change in Korea has consistently emanated from oppositional civil society rather than from the state. He develops a civil society paradigm and utilizes Korea s three authoritarian breakdowns (only two of which resulted in democratic transitions) to illustrate the past and present influences of Korean civil society groups on authoritarian breakdowns, democratic transitions, and post-transition democratic consolidations.One of the first systematic attempts to apply a civil society framework to a democratizing country in East Asia, "The Politics of Democratization in Korea" will be of use to political scientists and advanced undergraduate and graduate students working in comparative politics, political theory, East Asian politics, and the politics of democratization."

A projection of future changes in summer precipitation and monsoon in East Asia

Abstract: The future potential changes in precipitation and monsoon circulation in the summer in East Asia are projected using the latest generation of coupled climate models under Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario (a medium emission scenario). The multi-model ensemble means show that during the period of 2010–2099, the summer precipitation in East Asia will increase and experience a prominent change around the 2040s, with a small increase (∼1%) before the end of the 2040s and a large increase (∼9%) afterward. This kind of two-stage evolution characteristic of precipitation change can be seen most clearly in North China, and then in South China and in the mid and lower Yangtze River Valley. In 2010–2099, the projected precipitation pattern will be dominated by a pattern of “wet East China” that explains 33.6% of EOF total variance. The corresponded time coefficient will markedly increase after the 2040s, indicating a great contribution from this mode to the enhanced precipitation across all East China. Other precipitation patterns that prevail in the current climate only contribute a small proportion to the total variance, with no prominent liner trend in the future. By the late 21st century, the monsoon circulation will be stronger in East Asia. At low level, this is due to the intensification of southwesterly airflow north of the anticyclone over the western Pacific and the SCS, and at high level, it is caused by the increased northeasterly airflow east of the anticyclone over South Asia. The enhanced monsoon circulation will also experience a two-stage evolution in 2010–2099, with a prominent increase (by ∼0.6 m s−1) after the 2040s. The atmospheric water vapor content over East Asia will greatly increase (by ∼9%) at the end of 21st century. The water vapor transported northward into East China will be intensified and display a prominent increase around the 2040s similar to other examined variables. These indicate that the enhanced precipitation over East Asia is caused by the increases in both monsoon circulation and water vapor, which is greatly different from South Asia. Both the dynamical and thermal dynamic variables will evolve consistently in response to the global warming in East Asia, i.e., the intensified southwesterly monsoon airflow corresponding to the increased water vapor and southwesterly moisture transport.

Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas

Abstract: Korea is experiencing three crises: a famine in the North, a confrontation over the North's nuclear weapons programme, and now an economic crisis in the South. This volume examines the implications of these crises for Korea, the United States, and others with interests in the peninsula.

The Service Revolution in South Asia

Abstract: The story of Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state Andhra Pradesh, is truly inspiring for late-comers to development. Within two decades, Andhra Pradesh has been catapulted straight from a poor and largely agricultural economy into a major service center. It has transformed itself from a lagging into a leading region. Fuelled by an increase in service exports of 45 times between 1998 and 2008, the number of information technology companies in Hyderabad increased eight times, and employment increased 20 times. Service-led growth has mushroomed in other parts of India and South Asia as well. Indeed, growth in the services sector has enabled South Asia to grow almost as fast as East Asia in this century, with growth of just under seven percent annually between 2000 and 2007. Growth rates in South Asia and East Asia have converged. The two fastest growing regions in the world, however, have very different growth patterns. While East Asia is a story of growth led by manufacturing, South Asia has thrived on service-led growth. The promise of the services revolution is that countries do not need to wait to get started with rapid development. There is a new boat that development late-comers can take. The globalization of service exports provides alternative opportunities for developing countries to find niches, beyond manufacturing, where they can specialize, scale up and achieve explosive growth, just like the industrializes. The core of the argument is that as the number of goods and services produced and traded across the world expand with globalization, the possibilities for all countries to develop based on their comparative advantage expand. That comparative advantage can just as easily be in services as in manufacturing or indeed agriculture.