1st Edition

Malaysia and the Developing World The Asian Tiger on the Cinnamon Road

By Jan Stark Copyright 2013
    204 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    192 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    As Malaysia’s economy grows and flourishes, strong new links are being forged with other developing countries in the region and beyond. This book traces the ways in which age-old organizational, political, religious and trade networks between Nusantara, the Malay World, and Central Asia, East Africa and the Middle East have changed in recent years. The book argues that these old links are being revived by new forms of globalization, modernization and knowledge transfer that are developing and implementing non-western models of governance, often in direct reference to Islam. The book goes on to explain how, as Malaysia develops new links with Indian Ocean countries, many of them Muslim countries, a new style trading network is being formed, a network with Islamic characteristics, which echoes Indian Ocean Islamic trading networks of earlier times. Interspersed with interesting methodological insights into the latest network, transnational and spatial theories, the book provides detailed case studies of Malaysia’s and Southeast Asia’s trade and numerous other links with Indonesia, Egypt, Zanzibar, Comoros and Central Asia, and concludes by assessing how Malaysia’s and ASEAN’s new style network is likely to develop and influence wider global networks. Written with a depth of knowledge reflective of the author’s many years of research throughout Asia, this book gives a real insight into how Malaysia’s mentalities, traditions and ways of thinking are being applied to its interactions with its immediate neighbours and the wider world.

    1. Introduction: Trends, Visions and Concepts in the Developing World between the Middle East, the Silk Road and the Lands beyond the Winds  2. New Theoretical Meanings? Transnationalism, Networks and the Authoritarian State  3. Sufis, Traders, Seafarers: Re-Considering Nineteenth Century Networks between Nusantara, East Africa and the Arab Peninsula  4. Towards the Middle Path? The Tectonic Shifts in the Islamic World   5. The "Asian Tiger " at the Nile: Knowledge Transfer, Modernization and Bilateral Linkages between Southeast Asia and the Middle East  6. Race, Patronage and the Hybrid Authoritarian State: Malaysia and Guyana Re-Visited  7. The Failure to Create a Networked Islamic Space: Malaysia and Central Asia in the 1990s  8. The "Snow Leopard’s" Vision 2030: Central Asia, ASEAN and Regional Cooperation  9. Instead of a Conclusion: Khilafah, Transnational Islamic Networks and the Caliphate State in Southeast Asia

    Biography

    Jan Stark is an Associate Professor in the College of Law, Government and International Studies at Universiti Utara Malaysia