State Institutions, Civic Associations, and Identity Demands

Abstract

In a project of this ambition-covering almost twenty regions in eight countries-the thanks spread far and wide. We first want to thank the incountry experts and informants who made each of the individual chapters possible. As a community of scholars, we are constantly reminded that we are students of the citizens and cultures of the countries that we study. We express deep gratitude to them for allowing us access to their worlds and for imparting wisdom to us in its variety of forms.Next, we want to thank each of the contributors to the volume and the additional scholars whose chapters did not quite fit into the final organization of the book. Mai Truong and Paul Schuler have an excellent account on whether there is a north-south identity divide in Vietnam. The account can be found in a special issue of Asian Politics and Policy (31, no. 1 [2021]). We would have loved to include that article in this volume, and we encourage all to read it. Additionally, Shelli Israelsen wrote an interesting account on the lack of mobilization among Bamar and Karen women, which also unfortunately did not make it into the volume.Earlier drafts of all these chapters were presented at a 2019 American Political Science Association Mini-Conference ("Explaining Identity Formation in Asia"). We would like to thank the six discussants for their comments-both on the individual chapters and on the overall framing for the book: