Has a decade of growing prosperity tamed intercommunal violence in Asia? 

A comprehensive new report documents declining levels of conflict, but also warns of the destabilizing influence of social media.

Read a comprehensive introduction to the report: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/10/27/podcast-the-state-of-conflict-and-violence-in-asia/

Some much-needed new children’s books from an unlikely team of authors will answer the crying need for kid’s books in Fiji’s native tongues. Read more: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/10/13/stories-for-children-of-the-ocean/

A task force of Asian scholars has developed strategic recommendations for the Biden administration on foreign policy towards Asia. Join us in our discussion with report co-chairs Dr. Kirida  Bhaopichtr of the Thailand Development Research Institute, and Dr. C Raja Mohan of the National University of Singapore, and The Asia Foundation's Senior Director of International Relations, John Brandon.  Read the full report: https://asiafoundation.org/publication/asian-voices-on-the-future-of-u-s-asia-relations/

In diverse and often divided Sri Lanka, where memory still lingers of the long and bitter civil war, the “Our Stories” project—part art, part oral history—is working to build a more empathetic future. 

With the spread of illiberalism and identity politics, it’s been a rocky decade for democracy in much of the world. A project in Indonesia is working on a playbook to stem the antidemocratic tide.  Read the full article on our InAsia blog. 

When the Myanmar military reclaimed power in February after a decade of democratic government, it disrupted the delicate peace process with Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations, and the situation is still unfolding. https://asiafoundation.org/2021/07/21/podcast-political-unrest-unsettles-myanmars-borderlands/

In 2017, the people of Nepal held their first local elections in 20 years under a new federal system meant to end decades of political unrest. Is it working? A new survey gives us some tantalizing hints. https://asiafoundation.org/2021/06/23/podcast-survey-of-the-nepali-people-a-barometer-for-federalism/

Born in Afghanistan but raised in Iran, photographer Massoud Hossaini brings the critical eye of an outsider and the love of a native son to his photography. The Pulitzer Prize–winner says he found behind the lens both a passion for beauty and a commitment to human rights. See more photos: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/06/09/podcast-the-photography-of-massoud-hossaini/

It’s been four years since the terrorist siege of Marawi. It’s been just two years since the president’s pen ratified the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Now, some young data enthusiasts have offered a tantalizing glimpse of a brighter future in the southern Philippines. 

In the three years before the pandemic, South Asia registered the world’s highest rate of economic growth. Now, as a ruinous second wave of Covid-19 sweeps through the region, all of that appears to be undone.