This collection explores the possibilities for expanding and consolidating existing democratic spaces in Asia, under the pressure of market reforms. It provides new insights into the prospects for democratic consolidations in the region. The book explores the ways of going beyond the official and elitist discourses on constitutional democracy and economic development. It analyzes the complex challenges of deepening poverty and highlights the obstacles to the empowerment of marginalized communities, including women and ethno-religious minorities. The authors of this volume suggest ways to engender development through grassroots democracy in the new millennium.

EDNA A. CO National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG), University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City. AREIAL HERYANTO Lecturer at the Melbourne Institute of Asian Languages and Societies (MIALS) at The University of Melbourne, Australia JING LIN Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at University of Maryland, USA LE THI QUY Center for Family and Women Studies, National Center for Social Science and Humanity Hanoi, Vietnam JOEL ROCAMORA Executive Director of the Institute for Popular Democracy at Manila, Philippines PETER STOETT Concordia University, Montreal, Canada LAWRENCE SURENDRA Senior Adviser to the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Stockholm, Sweden and a Visiting Professor at the National Law School of India University Bangalore ALISSA TROTZ Member of Red Thread Women's Development Programme, Guyana and Assistant Professor, Sociology and Equity Studies, OISE and Institute of Women's and Gender Studies, University of Toronto, Canada