Southeast Asia is a region often associated with authoritarian resilience and democratic decline. In this podcast, Professor Baogang He examines the various ways in which Southeast Asian countries have institutionalised mechanisms for deliberative democracy to address complex governance issues. He is the editor (together with Michael Breen, and James Fishkin) of Deliberative Democracy in Asia (Routledge, 2022).

Deliberative democracy – an approach to political decision-making that places emphasis on inclusive, reflective, and other-regarding discussion – is manifest in long-standing practices of consensus-building and communitarian politics in the region. Professor He explains how introducing public deliberation into different political regimes can simultaneously give voice to ordinary citizens while also entrenching elite domination. Professor He draws on a range of case studies in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and reflects on the wider trend of deliberative democratization in Asia and beyond.

Baogang He is a Professor of International Relations at Deakin University in Australia.

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Nicole Curato is a Professor of Sociology in the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra. She co-hosts the New Books in Southeast Asia Studies channel.

This episode was created in collaboration with Erron C. Medina of the Development Studies Program of Ateneo De Manila University.

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