Inside Asia Podcast

CAD’s podcast is back, with dynamic voices spotlighting democracy in Asia

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Episode 2024.02 - Inside Religion and Politics in Marcos' Philippines 

Dr. Jayeel Cornelio, a visiting fellow at CAD, joins the pod to analyze the changing place of religion in Philippine politics. How have Catholic critics responded to the first eighteen months of Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s presidency? How does religion factor into reported tensions between the Marcos and Duterte camps? And how does religious nationalism in the Philippines compare to Christian nationalism’s influence in US politics?


Episode 2024.01 - Inside the Myanmar Civil War

Since February 2021, Myanmar has descended into one of the worst periods of its long-lasting civil war. Recent news reports indicate opposition gains on the battlefield, but what does it mean for the prospects for peace and democracy in the country? Professor Jacques Bertrand (University of Toronto) joins the pod to analyze the current prospects for political resolution.


Episode 2023.10 - Inside the 2024 Bangladesh Election

Drs. Shahab Enam Khan and Geoffrey Macdonald join the pod to spotlight the stakes of Bangladesh's upcoming January 2024 election. It is a tense pre-election period, with the primary opposition party vowing a boycott over allegations of electoral manipulation on the part of the incumbent Awami League and some violence in the streets. What are the likely outcomes of this political strategy? And could political instability impact the country's economic growth and even levels of political violence? Khan and Macdonald set the stage for the coming key month in Bangladesh's politics.


Episode 2023.09 - Inside the Abe Assassination, Religion, and Japanese Politics

Dr. Levi McLaughlin joins the podcast to discuss how religion's role in Japanese politics factored into the 2022 assassination of Shinzo Abe. Grievances against a controversial religious movement motivated Abe's assassin, and subsequent legal fallout. McLaughlin discusses how the killing prompted public outcry about close relationships between political parties and various religious movements in the country, including ongoing legal challenges facing the Unification Church in the country.


Episode 2023.08 - Inside Muslim Institutions and Indian Democracy

Dr. Taha Rauf joins the podcast to highlight the importance of local religious infrastructure in Indian democracy. Rauf is the new Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Asian Democracy, which he joined after recently completing his PhD at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the religious institutions associated with India's ~200 million member Muslim minority. He contrasts the political and economic effects of Sufi Khanaqah's from those associated with local madrasas. Debates about religion in Indian politics frequently highlight national political leaders, but Rauf's research reminds us that all religious politics is local!


Episode 2023.07 - Inside Pakistan's 2024 Election

Dr. Niloufer Siddiqui joins the podcast to spotlight the stakes of Pakistan's recently announced January 2024 election. There is much uncertainty over the elections, most prominently the legal status of ousted populist leader Imran Khan. The country continues to confront a persistent economic crisis, and political violence remains a threat. Just before our taping, dozens died in terrorist attacks on religious observances in the country. Siddiqui helps make sense of the links between elections, violence and religion in the country.


Episode 2023.06 - Back Inside the Deterritorialized Tibetan Nation

Dr. Ishani Dasgupta, Andrew W. Mellon HILLS Postdoctoral Fellow in Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, joins the podcast to update us on her recent fieldwork among Tibetan communities in India. Dasgupta recently completed her term as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Asian Democracy, which supported her Summer 2023 return to the field. The conversation covers political changes within the community since the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of the China-India relationship on Tibetan politics, and how her book manuscript, tentatively titled Refugee Nation: Citizenship, Resistance, and the Deterritorialized Tibetan Polity, evolved during her year at CAD.


Episode 2023.05 - Inside the 2023 Thailand General Election

Dr. Janjira Sombatpoonsiri joins the podcast to give us the inside scoop on the dynamics shaping Thailand's upcoming election. On May 14, 2023, voters in Thailand head to the polls for national elections. These elections mark the latest stage in the country’s turbulent politics, pitting military allies against opposition parties, most prominently the Pheu Thai Party, linked to exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Newer parties, especially the Move Forward Party, will try to break through this polarization with appeals to urbanized, younger voters.


Episode 2023.04 - Inside Lessons Learned from Democracy in Afghanistan

Jawad Patwal joins the podcast to reflect on the legacy of Afghanistan's period of democracy before the country's return to Taliban rule. Jawad Patwal was a Fulbright Scholar, and worked for a decade on democracy and governance in Afghanistan. This included staff work for a range of NGOs and international programs aiming to build good governance, rule of law, and gender equality in the country, as well as governmental work for the Office of the President and National Security Council.


Episode 2023.03 - Inside Digital Repression in Asia

Steven Feldstein, the winner of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for World Order, joins the Inside Asia Podcast to discuss his book The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance. Feldstein is a former State Department official, and currently Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In The Rise of Digital Repression, Feldstein documents how advanced digital tools bring new dimensions to political repression. This episode focuses on Asian cases in his research, especially Thailand, the Philippines, and China. The conversation also touches on the Biden Administration's Summit for Democracy, which was in progress while we spoke.


Episode 2023.02 - Inside the 2022 Malaysia General Election

In late November 2022, Malaysia held its general election. The landmark result brought longtime opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to power, although leading a complex coalition. Dr. Meredith Weiss of SUNY-Albany discusses what happened on election day, and the result's implications throughout the region.


Episode 2023.01 - Inside China's 2022 Protests

In late November 2022, a deadly apartment fire in China’s Xinjiang province touched off contentious protests throughout the country, focusing primarily on China’s continued COVID-19 lockdowns. Dr. Darren Byler, Assistant Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University, joins the podcast to discuss the protest dynamics and governmental response. We discuss the intersection of ethnicity with protest, the role of technology in the protests’ spread, and the implications of this episode for the broader stability of Communist Party rule.


Episode 2022.4 - Inside Taiwan's Local Elections

On November 26, 2022, Taiwan held local elections commonly referred to as its "midterms." Dr. Kharis Templeman of the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific at Stanford University's Hoover Institution joins the podcast to explain the results. We discuss the implications for the balance between the governing DPP and the opposition KMT, the country's rejection of an amendment to lower the voting age, and the implications for cross-strait relations. 


Episode 2022.3 - Inside the Nepal Election

On November 20, 2022, Nepal will hold its national election. Dr. Jeevan Sharma, Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of St. Andrews, joins the podcast to talk about the stakes of this race. We discuss the fragmentation of Marxist parties in the country, the role of Hindu nationalism, the consolidation of democratic institutions under the country’s new constitution, and the politics of gender and affirmative action.


Episode 2022.2 - Inside Online Historical Memory in the Philippines

The Center for Asian Democracy hosted Prof. Sheila Coronel for our Annual Lecture. Prof. Sheila Coronel is the Director, Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism. Coronel addresses the recent election of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr., and what that means for the Philippines, and democracy, disinformation and the struggle for historical memory across Asia and around the world.


Episode 2022.1 - Inside the Deterritorialized Tibetan Nation

CAD’s newest Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Ishani Dasgupta, joins us to discuss democracy, citizenship, and refugee status among the transnational Tibetan community.


 Archived Inside Asia Episodes (Pre-2020)