OUR EVENTS

Filtering by: “Politics”
Fade to Blue? What the Revamped Senate Reveals about Thailand’s Politics
Nov
2

Fade to Blue? What the Revamped Senate Reveals about Thailand’s Politics

Join the ISEAS Yusof-Ishak Institution for a seminar by Dr. Duncan McCargo, NYSEAN Co-Founder, Associate Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, and President’s Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. McCargo will discuss the Thai Senate’s selection process, a theoretically non-political process that has become overshadowed by the presence of political parties.

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Breaking the Cycle Documentary Screening
Nov
5

Breaking the Cycle Documentary Screening

  • NYU Wagner - Lafayette Conference Room, Floor 2 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join NYSEAN for a screening of Breaking the Cycle , a documentary about a group of young politicians campaigning against an authoritarian constitution in Thailand. The screening is followed by a discussion with Kunthida Rungruengkiat, a former Member of Parliament and Deputy Leader of the Future Forward Party in Thailand, and a current MPP candidate at the Princeton School of Public Policy and International Affairs.

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Vietnamerica: The Story of the Nation's Largest Refugee Group
Nov
18

Vietnamerica: The Story of the Nation's Largest Refugee Group

  • NYU Wagner - Lafayette Conference Room, Floor 2 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join NYSEAN and GETSEA for a screening of Vietnamerica , a documentary that follows Master Nguyen Hoa as he returns to former refugee camps in Southeast Asia after three decades abroad to search for the graves of his wife and two children. The screening is followed by a discussion with Executive Producer Nancy Bui of the Vietnamese Heritage Foundation.

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NYSEAN Conference on Intellectual Freedom in Southeast Asia and the United States
Oct
24

NYSEAN Conference on Intellectual Freedom in Southeast Asia and the United States

Join NYSEAN and the Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF) for a conference examining attacks on intellectual and academic freedom in Southeast Asia and the United States. Scholars, journalists, and activists will gather to look at how universities and intellectuals often become the first target of rising authoritarianism, the costs and benefits of collective action, and the strategies for resistance. The conversation will address the impact of funding cuts, strengthened immigration enforcement, and assaults on higher education in the United States as well as the lessons learned from crackdowns in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Turkey.

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The Philippines’ Engagement with Middle Powers: Outcomes, Issues & Challenges
Oct
22
to Oct 23

The Philippines’ Engagement with Middle Powers: Outcomes, Issues & Challenges

Join the Philippine Studies Program at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a webinar that critically examines how the Philippines has enhanced strategic relations with middle powers under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. since 2022. Panelists include: Mico A Galang, Xylee Calagui-Paculba, Deryk Baladjay, Matteo Piasentini, Alynna Carlos, and Lisa Palma.

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States against Nations: Meritocracy, Patronage, and the Challenges of Bureaucratic Selection
Oct
16

States against Nations: Meritocracy, Patronage, and the Challenges of Bureaucratic Selection

  • NYU Wagner - Lafayette Conference Room, Floor 2 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join NYSEAN and Nicholas Kuipers, Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University, as he discusses his recently published book. Drawing on large-scale surveys, experiments, and archival documents, States Against Nations provides a thought-provoking perspective on the challenges of bureaucratic recruitment and unearths an overlooked tension between state- and nation-building.

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Linking Histories of Citizenship and Forced Displacement: Armed Conflict, Expropriation, and Bureaucratic Violence in Myanmar
Oct
13

Linking Histories of Citizenship and Forced Displacement: Armed Conflict, Expropriation, and Bureaucratic Violence in Myanmar

  • Northern Illinois University - Asian American Resource Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join the Asian American Resource Center, the Center for Burma Studies, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University for a talk by Elizabeth Rhoads, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University, Sweden. Professor Rhoads will discuss the influence of conflict and displacement on statelessness and barriers to acquiring and holding citizenship in Myanmar.

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New Burma Strategic Dialogue: Diaspora and International Engagement in Myanmar’s Future
Oct
11

New Burma Strategic Dialogue: Diaspora and International Engagement in Myanmar’s Future

Join NYSEAN, the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University, and the U.S. Immigration & Resettlement Directive for a Forum on Burmese Democracy, where leading voices will share their perspectives on the crisis. Sean Turnell, Tom Andrews, Miemie Winn Byrd, and Kim Aris will examine Myanmar’s current trajectory, the challenges to democratic recovery, and the role of international engagement and diaspora communities.

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Sonic Governance and the Art of Medical Listening in Pandemic Vietnam
Oct
10

Sonic Governance and the Art of Medical Listening in Pandemic Vietnam

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, 206 Ingraham Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison for a talk by Christina Schwenkel, Professor of Anthropology at UC Riverside. Looking back on the early months of the pandemic in Vietnam, the talk argues for greater attention to the sensory dimensions of public health security, particularly as experienced through sonic rupture.

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He Who is Made Lord: Empire, Class and Race in Postwar Singapore
Oct
8

He Who is Made Lord: Empire, Class and Race in Postwar Singapore

  • University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa - Moore Hall 258 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa for a talk by Dr. Muhammad Suhail Mohamed Yazid, Fellow at the Harvard University Asia Center, as he discusses his latest book He Who is Made Lord. Dr. Barbara Watson Andaya, Emerita Professor of Asian Studies at UH-Mānoa, will moderate the discussion.

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Songs Beyond Borders: Thailand and Transnational Musical Connections
Oct
3

Songs Beyond Borders: Thailand and Transnational Musical Connections

  • NYU Wagner, Floor 2, Lafayette Conference Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join NYSEAN and NYU MAIR for a talk by Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Benjamin Tausig about the way that music features in their new books and how they engage with songs in their various writings. Benjamin will give a brief introduction to his latest book, Bangkok After Dark. Jeffrey will then discuss a chapter in his new book, The Milk Tea Alliance.

Margaret Scott, NYSEAN co-founder, will moderate the discussion.

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The Role of Media, Disinformation and Political Propaganda in Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election and Singapore’s 2025 General Election
Sep
29

The Role of Media, Disinformation and Political Propaganda in Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election and Singapore’s 2025 General Election

Join ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute’s Media, Technology, and Society Program (MTS) for a talk by Dr. Carol Soon, Associate Professor of Communications and New Media in the National University of Singapore, and Dr. Maria Monica Wihardja, Visiting Fellow and Co-Coordinator of the MTS Program.. They will discuss the role of different types of media, AI- and non-AI-generated disinformation and election propaganda on voter perceptions and behaviours in Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election and Singapore’s 2025 General Election.

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Understanding the Thailand-Cambodia Conflict: How Border Disputes Drive Domestic Political Crises and Vice Versa
Sep
28

Understanding the Thailand-Cambodia Conflict: How Border Disputes Drive Domestic Political Crises and Vice Versa

Join the Thailand Studies Program at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a talk by Dr. Puangthong R. Pawakapan, Professor of International Relations at Chulalongkorn University, and Supalak Ganjanakhundee, advisor to the Military Affairs Committee of Thailand’s House of Representatives. They will discuss potential solutions for addressing the Thailand-Cambodia conflict.

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Privilege and Protection: Why Businesspeople Enter Politics in Indonesia
Sep
25

Privilege and Protection: Why Businesspeople Enter Politics in Indonesia

  • NYU Wagner, Floor 2, Lafayette Conference Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join NYSEAN and NYU MAIR for a talk by Dr. Eve Warburton, research fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change at Australian National University (ANU) and Director of the ANU Indonesia Project. Dr. Warburton will discuss her new paper co-written with Dr. Andi Ali Armunanto on the motivations of businesspeople to enter politics in Indonesia.

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“Air-conditioned People” and their Others: Class and Environmental Litigation in the Southern Philippines
Sep
17

“Air-conditioned People” and their Others: Class and Environmental Litigation in the Southern Philippines

Join the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University for a talk by Dr. Alyssa Paredes, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. This talk uses the pejorative Filipino expression naka-aircon or “air-conditioned person” meaning detached from reality, to capture class-based inequalities in access to cooled spaces to argue that the indifference of the elite bears repercussions for the delivery of the law.

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Leveraging Coordination Capacity: Medical Resource Mobilization in Asia’s Developmental States During COVID-19
Sep
15

Leveraging Coordination Capacity: Medical Resource Mobilization in Asia’s Developmental States During COVID-19

  • Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Room 918 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University for a talk by Dr. Wei-Ting Yen, assistant research fellow at the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Dr. Yen examines how South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore adopted distinct medical resource strategies during the early phase of COVID-19.

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Foreign Policy Entrepreneurship in U.S. Policy toward Myanmar
Sep
15

Foreign Policy Entrepreneurship in U.S. Policy toward Myanmar

Join NYSEAN and the Program in International Relations (IR) at New York University for a talk by Dr. Jürgen Haacke, Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who will discuss changes in foreign policy entrepreneurship in U.S. policy toward Myanmar in the 2000s. Dr. Frances O’Morchoe, Visiting Assistant Professor in International History with the IR Program at New York University, will moderate the discussion.

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Indonesia Update 2025 - Navigating Climate Change in Indonesia: Mitigation and Adaptation Pathways
Sep
11
to Sep 12

Indonesia Update 2025 - Navigating Climate Change in Indonesia: Mitigation and Adaptation Pathways

Join the Crawford School of Public Policy for the Indonesia Update 2025, the largest annual conference on Indonesian society outside of Indonesia. With the theme of “Navigating Climate Change in Indonesia: Mitigation and Adaptation Pathways,” this conference will explore Indonesia’s approach to tackling climate change, including both existing and planned mitigation and adaptation strategies.

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The Moderate Middle: The Suharto Regime and Indonesia’s Engagement with the New International Economic Order (NIEO), 1968-1984
Sep
11

The Moderate Middle: The Suharto Regime and Indonesia’s Engagement with the New International Economic Order (NIEO), 1968-1984

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a talk by Bradley Simpson, Professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of Connecticut, who will discuss Indonesian politics and policies surrounding the New International Economic Order.

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Are Youth Moving to the Right? Insights from Surveys in Indonesia and Thailand
Sep
7

Are Youth Moving to the Right? Insights from Surveys in Indonesia and Thailand

Join ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel examining Thai and Indonesian youth’s perceptions on wellbeing and development, social attitudes and values, and other trends in civic engagement. Featured speakers include Voradon Lerdrat, Director of Research and Policy Partnerships at 101 Public Policy Think Tank (Thailand), and Dr. Iim Halimatusa’diyah, Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute and Professor of Sociology at Islamic State University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah.

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Indonesia in Crisis: Affan Kurniawan, Protest, and a Polity on the Brink
Sep
7

Indonesia in Crisis: Affan Kurniawan, Protest, and a Polity on the Brink

Join us for a timely webinar exploring how Indonesia’s political crisis reverberates beyond street protests to challenge the foundations of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. The conversation will situate Indonesia’s struggles within a broader regional context, examining what shrinking democratic space means under rising authoritarianism across Southeast Asia.

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Engage Thailand: “The Deep Dive” Episode 1 with Paul Chambers
Sep
6

Engage Thailand: “The Deep Dive” Episode 1 with Paul Chambers

Join Engage Thailand for their new online talk “The Deep Dive,” which brings a diverse range of people to provide perspectives on pressing issues in Thai politics and human rights. Their first guest is Dr. Paul Chambers, a renowned scholar on the Thai civil-military relationship who was recently arrested on lèse-majesté charges for allegedly insulting the monarchy.

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Unpacking Malaysian Neutrality under Anwar: Is Hedging Still Possible (and Desirable) under Trump 2.0?
Aug
26

Unpacking Malaysian Neutrality under Anwar: Is Hedging Still Possible (and Desirable) under Trump 2.0?

Join the Malaysia Studies Program at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a talk by Dr. Kuik Cheng-Chwee, Visiting Senior Fellow and Professor in International Relations at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). This webinar unpacks Malaysian neutrality, assesses the impacts of the emerging trends, and analyzes factors determining the feasibility of hedging for Malaysia and similarly situated states in the years to come.

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Unpacking the Thailand-Cambodia Border Conflict
Aug
7

Unpacking the Thailand-Cambodia Border Conflict

Join the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) for a conversation with regional experts on the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict. The panel will include Sophal Ear, Associate Professor and former Senior Associate Dean in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, Supalak Ganjanakhundee, advisor to the Thai House of Representatives Military Committee, former Visiting Fellow in the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and former editor of The Nation, and Benjamin Zawacki, senior program specialist at The Asia Foundation. Bryanna Entwistle, Press and Program Officer at ASPI, will moderate the conversation.

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Anchoring Cooperation in Uncertain Times: ASEAN and Korea as Comprehensive Strategic Partners
Aug
6
to Aug 7

Anchoring Cooperation in Uncertain Times: ASEAN and Korea as Comprehensive Strategic Partners

  • Seminar Rooms 1 & 2, ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The seminar, jointly organized by the ASEAN Studies Centre at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and the ROK Embassy in Singapore, will bring together scholars and policymakers from Southeast Asia and the ROK to examine how the ASEAN-ROK partnership can be strengthened and future-proofed. Panellists will discuss best practices to navigate regional and global volatility, and chart forward the ASEAN-ROK actionable cooperation in climate and energy resilience, economic connectivity, and societal engagement.

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Malaysia Update 2025: Malaysia’s Regional Role
Jul
31
to Aug 1

Malaysia Update 2025: Malaysia’s Regional Role

  • Auditorium, Australian Centre on China in the World, Building 188, Fellows Lane, ANU (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join the Malaysia Institute at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific for a conference bringing together leading scholars and distinguished speakers in Malaysia and Australia. The theme of the 2025 conference explores Malaysia’s role in ASEAN, in Southeast Asia, and in the Asia-Pacific.

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Shifting Identities and the Future of Diversity in Urban Centers
Jul
28
to Jul 29

Shifting Identities and the Future of Diversity in Urban Centers

  • Seminar Rooms 1 & 2, ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join the Regional Social and Cultural Studies Program at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a conference on how inter-racial and inter-religious interactions shape identity in key Southeast Asian cities: Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Jakarta, Surabaya, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai. The panels will discuss nationalism, assimilation, multiculturalism, and political trends.

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Special PhD Student Seminar: Policy making in Indonesia
Jul
28

Special PhD Student Seminar: Policy making in Indonesia

Join the Indonesia Project at Australia National University for their PhD student seminar exploring the theme of policy making in Indonesia as part of the Indonesia Project’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. Gita Putri Damayana examines the regulatory framework that shapes policy making in Indonesia, Joshua Walker offers a sociological perspective on the country’s energy transition and electric vehicle (EV) policy, and Dyah Pritadrajati discusses social policy from an economic standpoint.

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Times are Changing: Can Indonesia Stay the Course?
Jul
23
to Jul 24

Times are Changing: Can Indonesia Stay the Course?

President Prabowo’s first 10 months come amid significant global and domestic changes. As uncertainty rises, Indonesia’s future hinges on strong policies and bold reforms. Join experts Maria Monica Wihardja, Mohamad Ikhsan, and Vivi Alatas in the ANU Indonesia Project Global Seminar: "Times are changing: Can Indonesia stay the course?" as they discuss their forthcoming paper in the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (BIES).

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Trade Wars and Multinational Enterprises
Jul
13

Trade Wars and Multinational Enterprises

Join the ASEAN Studies Center and the Regional Economic Studies Program at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel on the current state of play in the US trade policy and its impact on multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Southeast Asia as the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs lapses in early July 2025. Featured speakers include Marc Mealy, Isamu Wakamatsu, and Dr. Dan Wang.

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