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This volume brings emerging research on religion and development into conversation with politics. Deploying innovative conceptual frameworks, and drawing on empirical research from across contemporary Asia, this collection makes an incisive contribution to the analysis of aid and development processes.

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Introduction; Robin Bush, Philip Fountain and R. Michael Feener 1. Religion and the Politics of Development in Asia; Philip Fountain, Robin Bush, R. Michael Feener 2. The Purification, Sacralisation and Instrumentalisation of Development as a Religious Enterprise; Oscar Salemink 3. Gender, Development, and the ´De-privatization´ of Religion: Re-framing Feminism and Religion in Asia; Emma Tomalin 4. Islamic Activism and Palliative Care: An Analysis from Kerala, India; R. Santhosh 5. Buddhist Cosmopolitan Ethics and Transnational Secular Humanitarianism in Sri Lanka; Nalika Gajaweera 6. Buddhist and Protestant Philanthropies in Contemporary Southeast China: Negotiating the ´Grey Zone´; Wu Keping 7. Patronage, Welfare Provision, and State-Society Relations: Lessons from Muslim-Dominant Regimes in Southeast Asia; Kikue Hamayotsu 8. Between Ideology and International Politics: The Dynamics and Transformation of a Transnational Islamic Charity; Zoltan Pall 9. Remaking the Russian State from the East: The Role of Asian Christians as Civic Activists; Melissa Caldwell 10. The Politics of Nonreligious Aid: A Japanese Environmental Ethic in Myanmar; Chika Watanabe Outlook; R. Michael Feener, Philip Fountain and Robin Bush

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"The contents of this book are very relevant for scholars in several fields, especially as a tool for advancing interdisciplinary research on the topics at hand. ... This book is well-organized and touches on a wide range of subjects related to the central theme. ... this book will serve as an excellent resource for researchers striving to construct new or rethought forms of development policy and application." (Peter D. A. Wood, Progress in Development Studies, Vol. 16 (3), 2016)

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Melissa L. Caldwell, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA Nalika Gajaweera, University of Southern California, USA Kikue Hamayotsu, Northern Illinois University, USA Zoltan Pall, National University of Singapore, Singapore Emma Tomalin, University of Leeds, UK Oscar Salemink, University of Copenhagen, Denmark R. Santhosh , Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India Chika Watanabe, University of Manchester, UK Wu Keping, National University of Singapore, Singapore

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