Special Issue: Religion and public administration in Asia Pacific

The aim of this special issue is to relate the rising interest in non-western public administration to the resurgence of religious belief in the contemporary public administration landscape in Asia. The rapid economic development of Asia has brought deep changes in society and with it an expanding variety of old and new religions to help individuals, groups and communities find meaning, identity and self-realisation in their disrupted circumstances. This includes increasing observance of existing world religions in Asia (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism) as well as their reworking with indigenous religions into hybrid forms to build new religious movements mobilising dislocated parts of the population. While the phenomena of religious resurgence in Asia has attracted scholarly attention, notably in theology, religious studies, sociology and anthropology, there is an absence of frameworks for apprehending and analysing the links between religion and public administration in the Asian context.