Human Insecurity in East Asia

Threats to human security aren't always as cataclysmic as a war or natural disaster. Often they are as subtle as a slowrising tide, whose calamitous nature remains unknown till it breaks out as a monstrous flood.

East Asia, no stranger to regional wars or major natural disasters, is also known as the best performer in the United Nations poverty reduction program. The essays in this volume look into the interior of this dynamic and vibrant region to examine the many subtle as well as obvious threats to safe and secure life. The book calls attention to the less obvious threats to human security and how people and communities face them.

Woven from first-hand observations of life at various sites in East Asia, the narratives illuminate how uncanny the threats to human security can be.

Michio Umegaki is professor of the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University (Japan). Lynn Thiesmeyer is professor of the Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University. Atsushi Watabe is research fellow at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.