In this episode of the New Books in Southeast Asia Podcast, Stéphan Huard discusses Calibrated Engagement: Chronicles of Local Politics in the Heartland of Myanmar (‎Berghahn Books, 2024), in which he takes a deep dive into the history and anthropology of village leadership in Myanmar’s central dry zone, or anya. Though the book was researched prior to the military coup of 2021, it offers material with which to make sense of both why and how people in the dry zone formed new armed groups along what Stéphen calls an internal frontier.

The book is available for download free of charge via the publisher’s website. This episode was produced by NYSEAN Partner, the New Books Network.

In this episode of Southeast Asia Radio, produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Gregory B. Poling and Andreyka Natalegawa are joined by Susannah Patton to discuss the Southeast Asia Program’s upcoming Global Alignment Index report. The podcast also covers the latest from Southeast Asia, from updates on U.S.-Cambodia ties to the Philippines assuming the ASEAN chairmanship.

In an article for Mekong Independent, Gerald Flynn brings attention to the Karen Indigenous community in Northern Thailand, and the problems of air pollution they face as a result of maize cultivation.

In an article for Al Jazeera, Erin Hale gives an overview of the upgraded ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, which will broaden collaboration on infrastructure, digital and green transitions, trade facilitation, and people to people exchanges, as trade between both parties grow under Trump's trade wars.

In an article for UC Berkeley News, Lila Thulin discusses Long Le-Khac's 1,900-entry long database of Asian American literary canon. By gathering publications featuring the keyword “Asian American” or taking media from journals dedicated to Asian American studies, Le-Khac frames it as a chance for academics to audit what's considered the Asian American canon and see who might be missing or underrepresented.

In this episode of Southeast Asia Radio, produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Gregory B. Poling and Elina Noor are joined by Brian Eyler and Prashanth Parameswaran to discuss President Trump’s visit to Malaysia during the ASEAN Summit. The podcast also covers the latest from Southeast Asia, including mass scam operations in Cambodia and Myanmar’s upcoming general elections.

In a brief by the Asia Society Policy Institute, Bryanna Entwistle and Shay Wester cover President Trump’s first stop on his Asia tour: the ASEAN Leaders' Summit in Kuala Lumpur. On the sidelines, he presided over the signing of a number of deals, including a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia, and “reciprocal trade” deals with Malaysia and Cambodia, respectively.

In an article for East Asia Forum, Ronald Tundang discusses gaps in ASEAN's health systems, which leave millions without reliable access to essential medicines. Tundang proposes that, to bridge regional gaps, ASEAN's least developed countries could follow the "ASEAN Minus X" model to establish a sub-regional facility, combining a patent-licensing hub with pooled procurement, which would facilitate WTO-compliant licensing, aggregate demand, and uphold quality benchmarks.