Book
Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts
Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts explores how courts engage in constitutional state-building in aspiring, yet deeply fragile, democracies in Asia. Yvonne Tew offers an in-depth look at contemporary Malaysia and Singapore, explaining how courts protect and construct constitutionalism even as they confront dominant political parties and negotiate democratic transitions.
This richly illustrative account offers at once an engaging analysis of Southeast Asia's constitutional context, as well as a broader narrative that should resonate in many countries across Asia that are also grappling with similar challenges of colonial legacies, histories of authoritarian rule, and societies polarized by race, religion, and identity.
The book explores the judicial strategies used for statecraft in Asian courts, including an analysis of the specific mechanisms that courts can use to entrench constitutional basic structures and to protect rights in a manner that is purposive and proportionate. Tew's account shows how courts in Asia's emerging democracies can chart a path forward to help safeguard a nation's constitutional core and to build an enduring constitutional framework.
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“Not only the definitive work on Malaysia, but an indispensable addition to comparative constitutionalism.”
Can law and constitutional institutions shore up the world's new democracies? Professor Yvonne Tew provides the most comprehensive national account of efforts to impose political and legal accountability in one-party states that claim an electoral mandate. A fascinating tale of the transition of Asian courts from constricted constitutionalism to dynamic constitutional statecraft.”
— Samuel Issacharoff, Reiss Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
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“With Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts Yvonne Tew has written a book that will be impossible to ignore in any serious discussion about constitutional democracy in the parts of Asia her pen touches. She writes with clarity, sensitivity, and skill as she casts a sharp analytical light into the heart of several common law jurisdictions.”
— Christopher Forsyth, Emeritus Sir David Williams Professor of Public Law, University of Cambridge
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“Professor Yvonne Tew's book contains a scintillating and lucid account of how courts in Malaysia and Singapore navigate politically sensitive terrains to buttress the spirit of constitutionalism. An impressive work of scholarship.”
— H. P. Lee, Emeritus Professor, Monash University
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“Professor Tew's evaluation of judicial contributions to building constitutionalism in Malaysia and Singapore provides a dynamic, richly contextual understanding of contested ideas and institutions. This fascinating, perceptive, timely, and forward-looking study deserves to be read by anyone with an interest in constitutionalism, the interplay of judicial and political statecraft, or constitutional politics in Asia.”
— David Feldman, Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of English Law, University of Cambridge
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Book Review by Masahiko Kinoshita (Kobe University)
American Journal of Comparative Law (2024)
"Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts by Yvonne Tew is a brilliant book that serves as a guiding beacon elucidating the trajectory of courts within fragile democracies where the path forward is obscured amidst turbulent storms…. This book will be referred to as a classic of judicial review studies in fragile democracies.”
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"Building a More Perfect Democracy in Asia: A Realistic Theory of Courts as Democracy Protectors and Promoters?" Book Review by Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales
Jotwell, Dec. 17, 2020
“Ultimately...this is a work of scholarly statecraft: it aims both to persuade readers globally of the importance and lessons of these Asian cases for theorizing about the relationship between judicial review and democracy globally, and to persuade common law Asian judges to follow the path set out by Tew herself...
We can only hope that, like Tew, they are up to the task.”
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Book Review by Mark Rush, Department of Politics, Washington and Lee University
31 Law and Politics Book Review, 142-147 (2021)
“Tew raises questions about western notions of constitutionalism while presenting fresh insights into Southeast Asian judiciaries. It’s an insightful work that belongs on the bookshelves of all comparative scholars.”
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"Taking Constitutional Statecraft Beyond the Courts," Book Review by Ming-Sung Kuo, University of Warwick
I-CONnect, May 7, 2021
"Yvonne Tew’s Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts is a welcome addition. Comparing Malaysia and Singapore, Tew tells a well-crafted story of how courts in aspiring democracies in Asia have managed to resurrect from regimes long dominated by political forces….Tew prescribes a robust role for courts in the realms where state-building continues and democracy remains fragile ."
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Book Review by Rehan Abeyratne, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Asian Journal of Comparative Law , 1-5 (2021)
“Overall, this book provides a rich account of the judicial role within the broader political and cultural context in these two countries. It will be of great interest to scholars of comparative constitutionalism in Asia and beyond. One can only hope that Tew's optimism for historically passive courts to become ‘partners in the enterprise of statecraft’ proves correct.”
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Book Review by Muhammad Afiq bin Baharum
189 Law & Justice, 183-185 (2022)
"Tew excels in pointing the way forward especially for the Malaysian judiciary since the unexpected loss of the BN regime in 2018. Indeed, her contribution specifically in 'Balancing Security and Liberty' (chapter 8) has been cited with approval by the Malaysian Federal Court in its recent judgment. If anything, this shows that her notion of strategic assertiveness is really happening in Malaysia.”
Available at:
Oxford University Press
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