On September 21st, Sri Lankans headed to the polls for the country’s first presidential elections since the successful 2022 protests that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from power. They elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of a Marxist-influenced party with a contentious past. Dr. Shamara Wettimuny (Oxford University) joins the pod from Colombo to discuss the post-election dynamics and early signs from the new administration.

On April 19, voters in India begin to head to the polls for national elections that will stretch through May. The incumbent BJP faces a new opposition alliance, again under the leadership of the Indian National Congress. What will the election signal about the overall health of democracy in the country? And how does the BJP, a party of Hindu nationalism, mobilize women into its political project? Drs. Anirvan Chowdhury (Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University) and Taha Rauf (Postdoctoral Fellow, CAD) join the pod to put the campaign in context.

Dr. Ahmet Kuru of San Diego State University joins the pod to analyze the fusion of religion, nationalism and populism. How did this combination lead to his interrogation by security forces while on a trip to deliver scholarly lectures in Malaysia? And what lesson does this troubling incident hold for the broader relationship between religion and democracy, in Asia and beyond?

Kuru on his "Malaysia ordeal": https://theconversation.com/my-malaysia-ordeal-shows-how-religion-can-fuse-with-populist-nationalism-to-silence-dissent-221936

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 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.