The discussion and debates over the relationship between Country and Area Studies as a field of research and country and area studies as a discipline as well as those between context-specific knowledge and general theory have long existed among CAS scholars around the world. An emerging consensus is that country and area studies needs to develop and strengthen its interdisciplinarity in response to the profound changes at national, regional and global levels in the world.

The disciplinary development of CAS is further called to enhance its diversity in perspectives, inclusiveness and originality in research in order to achieve depth and breadth in understanding, to shift away from the Cold War influence in the birth of this field. Journal of Country and Area Studies values the traditions and experiences of country and area studies in different disciplines and different countries and regions, and engages in equal dialogue among them in favour of achieving synthesis of theories, methodologies and issues to build up shared knowledge in this field. It will serve as an open, inclusive, dynamic platform for academic collaboration and innovation globally which contributes to constructing a community of knowledge with the common commitment to a better and shared future of mankind.

Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU)

Journal of Country and Area Studies is co-published by  Tsinghua University Press and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.