This project builds on prior research on Latin American and examines the interaction between transnational developments and the role of law and lawyers in four Asian countries (India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Taiwan). Using a structural approach, the project seeks to understand the ways in which international strategies, especially in the past two to three decades, are transforming the landscapes of power and prestige and the rules of the game for the state and economy. Debt crises, foreign investment, human rights movements, and the more general development of an international market in professional expertise can be expected to lead to important change sin Asia and in the particular countries that will be studies. Preliminary research and an examination of the available literature provides a picture of the different starting points in these countries and the competing forms of authority and expertise that are prominent in the region. Data will be collected through extensive interviewing and will be used to situate law in relation to various competitors, and to help gain an understanding of the institutional patterns that are emerging or have emerged. The project seeks: (1) to explore transnational processes of change in governance-in the "state" as defined broadly-that have been important in may different countries, (2) to relate the intensity and impact of those processes to a number of regional and national settings, and (3) to highlight the changing position and role of lawyers in these various settings.
