Tak-Wing Ngo, born in Hong Kong, China, in 1962. Ph.D. from the University of London. Assistant Professor of Chinese Politics at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 September 1998 – 30 June 1999)
As a member of the theme group “East Asian and Latin American Developments Compared”, my main research focus during the NIAS year was undertaking comparative case studies on the politics of development. I restricted myself to two cases: Argentina and Taiwan. I found that despite superficial institutional resemblance the Argentine State and the Taiwan State differed in their capacity to create social support for development policies. In the paper presented at the NIAS conference in June 1999, I argued that it was the structuring of social conflicts which accounted for the difference between Argentina and Taiwan in mobilising social support for industrialisation. The paper will be revised and turned into a book chapter alongside with other contributions from our theme group.
In addition I also managed to complete some of my ongoing projects. I completed editing two books, both scheduled to be published this summer. The first one is Hong Kong’s History: State and Society under Colonial Rule (Routledge, 1999). It re-examines British colonialism in Hong Kong and attempts to offer a new perspective that differs both from recent celebration of British colonialism and anti-colonial Chinese nationalism. The second book is The Cultural Construction of Politics in Asia (Curzon, 1999), co-edited with Hans Antlöv. The book deals with the relationship between culture and politics in Asia, mediated by the contentious issue of Asian democracy.