We are fortunate to be able to produce this title six years after the initial publication of The Military and Democracy in Asia and the Pacific. It forms part of an ANU E Press series that is intended to make critical research done at The Australian National University available to a wider readership.

The original edition of The Military and Democracy in Asia and the Pacific was undertaken within the context of the Regime Change and Regime Maintenance in Asia and the Pacific project of The Australian National University’s Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, bringing together a number of prominent regional specialists to look at the military’s changing role in selected countries of Asia and the Pacific.

As the original edition sold out, we hope that this new publication will reach an even wider audience who can reflect on the issues raised in this volume and watch with interest the developments within the region.