event

Rising Political Polarization in Southeast Asia

Wed. September 9th, 2020
Live Online

3:00 PM — 4:30 PM ICT

Rising levels of political polarization are hurting democracy in many Southeast Asian countries. Drawing on a recent Carnegie Endowment report on the topic, this event will examine three critical cases—Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand—to gain a regional understanding of why polarization is increasing, its political effects, and how political and civic actors can take steps to address it.

This event is being held in collaboration with the Institute of Asian Studies.

To submit a question for the event, please use the YouTube chat or tweet at us @CarnegieDCG.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Thomas Carothers

Harvey V. Fineberg Chair for Democracy Studies; Director, Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program

Thomas Carothers, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, is a leading expert on comparative democratization and international support for democracy.

Janjira Sombatpoonsiri

Janjira Sombatpoonsiri is a research fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and an assistant professor at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University. Her current research focuses on autocratic weaponization of disinformation laws, digital propaganda and conflict narratives in Southeast Asia, and digital repression of protest movements. Her academic articles appear in, for instance, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Voluntas, and Journal of Peace Research. She is a regional manager for the Digital Society Project.

Nualnoi Treerat

Nualnoi Treerat is director of the Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

Eve Warburton

Eve Warburton is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore.

Bridget Welsh

Bridget Welsh is an honorary research associate at the Asia Research Institute of the University of Nottingham Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, and senior research associate at the Hu Fu Center for East Asia Democratic Studies at National Taiwan University.