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The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia
Today, two-thirds of the world's nations have abolished the death penalty, either officially or in practice, due mainly to the campaign to end state executions led by Western European nations. Will this success spread to Asia, where over 95 percent of executions now occur? Do Asian values and traditions support capital punishment, or will development and democratization end executions in the world's most rapidly developing region?
David T. Johnson, an expert on law and society in Asia, and Franklin E. Zimring, a senior authority on capital punishment, combine detailed case studies of the death penalty in Asian nations with cross-national comparisons to identify the critical factors for the future of Asian death penalty policy. The clear trend is away from reliance on state execution and many nations with death penalties in their criminal codes rarely use it. Only the hard-line authoritarian regimes of China, Vietnam, Singapore, and North Korea execute with any frequency, and when authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply, as in Taiwan and South Korea. Debunking the myth of "Asian values," Johnson and Zimring demonstrate that politics, rather than culture or tradition, is the major obstacle to the end of executions. Carefully researched and full of valuable lessons, The Next Frontier is the authoritative resource on the death penalty in Asia for scholars, policymakers, and advocates around the world.
David T. Johnson, an expert on law and society in Asia, and Franklin E. Zimring, a senior authority on capital punishment, combine detailed case studies of the death penalty in Asian nations with cross-national comparisons to identify the critical factors for the future of Asian death penalty policy. The clear trend is away from reliance on state execution and many nations with death penalties in their criminal codes rarely use it. Only the hard-line authoritarian regimes of China, Vietnam, Singapore, and North Korea execute with any frequency, and when authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply, as in Taiwan and South Korea. Debunking the myth of "Asian values," Johnson and Zimring demonstrate that politics, rather than culture or tradition, is the major obstacle to the end of executions. Carefully researched and full of valuable lessons, The Next Frontier is the authoritative resource on the death penalty in Asia for scholars, policymakers, and advocates around the world.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published December 29, 2008
7 people want to read
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June 17, 2023
This book offers a comparative analysis of the death penalty in Asia based on the available literature at the time of publication. Part I introduces the authors' comparative methodology which combines statistical analysis with historical narrative. Part I also is important because the outline that it provides of the variety of capital punishment regimes in Asia makes clear that the authors do not see the region as a monolithic whole, that is, they do not assume that the same dynamics and trends apply to all Asian jurisdictions.
Part II provides detailed case histories of the death penalty in five Asian nations: Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and China. Each of these detailed profiles is a chapter in length and combines statistical data with historical narrative. These detailed profiles are supplemented with 6 appendixes in which the author provides brief overviews of 6 more Asian nations (North Korea, Hong Kong and Macao, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and India) are provided. The detailed national profiles, combined with the briefer profiles given in the appendix provide the foundation for the comparative analysis that appears in Part III.
Part III consists of two chapters. Chapter 8 looks at the lessons that can be learned from history. This chapter is divided into 3 sections. Section 1, based on the individual histories, describes those features of Asian death penalty experience that are consistent with the European experience. Section 2 outlines the most significant death penalty variations found within the region. The final section details three ways in which the Asian experience diverges from the European one. Chapter 9, the second comparative chapter, considers possible future scenarios for capital punishment in the region. This final chapter, as the authors note, rests on less solid grounds because of its focus on future prospect. However, based on the detailed histories, the authors outline 3 possible sources of influence on future policy: External (from outside Asia); regional (from within Asia) and national. The authors conclude that while there are many unknowns, the question is not if Asia will abolish the death penalty but when.
The primary shortcoming of the historical narratives provided by the authors is a product of the time frame in which the authors would have conducted research for this book. Specifically, the author’s understanding of human rights history as a Western concept that flowed unidirectionally from the West outward is no longer accepted by historians. This Eurocentric understanding has given way to one that sees international human rights discourse as the product of multidirectional process.
The other shortcoming of authors’ historical narrative is its failure to delve into why Asia lacks any regional institution comparable to the Council of Europe or NATO. This oversight is more difficult to explain as there were already global Cold War histories that covered why Asia lacks a supranational body comparable to NATO. Efforts were made to create such a body, but these efforts were blocked by the United States because it feared that it would lead to greater communist influence in the region and less American influence. Preserving national autonomy in the region was part of a larger US strategy to preserve US hegemony in Southeast Asia.
Although these two narrative shortcomings result in some oversimplifications in the book's analysis, it remains a relevant read for scholars and activist interested in capital punishment policy in Asia and beyond.
Part II provides detailed case histories of the death penalty in five Asian nations: Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and China. Each of these detailed profiles is a chapter in length and combines statistical data with historical narrative. These detailed profiles are supplemented with 6 appendixes in which the author provides brief overviews of 6 more Asian nations (North Korea, Hong Kong and Macao, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and India) are provided. The detailed national profiles, combined with the briefer profiles given in the appendix provide the foundation for the comparative analysis that appears in Part III.
Part III consists of two chapters. Chapter 8 looks at the lessons that can be learned from history. This chapter is divided into 3 sections. Section 1, based on the individual histories, describes those features of Asian death penalty experience that are consistent with the European experience. Section 2 outlines the most significant death penalty variations found within the region. The final section details three ways in which the Asian experience diverges from the European one. Chapter 9, the second comparative chapter, considers possible future scenarios for capital punishment in the region. This final chapter, as the authors note, rests on less solid grounds because of its focus on future prospect. However, based on the detailed histories, the authors outline 3 possible sources of influence on future policy: External (from outside Asia); regional (from within Asia) and national. The authors conclude that while there are many unknowns, the question is not if Asia will abolish the death penalty but when.
The primary shortcoming of the historical narratives provided by the authors is a product of the time frame in which the authors would have conducted research for this book. Specifically, the author’s understanding of human rights history as a Western concept that flowed unidirectionally from the West outward is no longer accepted by historians. This Eurocentric understanding has given way to one that sees international human rights discourse as the product of multidirectional process.
The other shortcoming of authors’ historical narrative is its failure to delve into why Asia lacks any regional institution comparable to the Council of Europe or NATO. This oversight is more difficult to explain as there were already global Cold War histories that covered why Asia lacks a supranational body comparable to NATO. Efforts were made to create such a body, but these efforts were blocked by the United States because it feared that it would lead to greater communist influence in the region and less American influence. Preserving national autonomy in the region was part of a larger US strategy to preserve US hegemony in Southeast Asia.
Although these two narrative shortcomings result in some oversimplifications in the book's analysis, it remains a relevant read for scholars and activist interested in capital punishment policy in Asia and beyond.
Displaying 1 of 1 review