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Amy Freedman is department chair and professor of political science at Pace University. Previously, she was professor of political science and international affairs at LIU Post and adjunct associate research scholar at Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Dr. Freedman’s work looks at Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Indonesia and Malaysia. Recent journal articles include: “Progress and Caution: Indonesia’s Democracy” co-authored with Robert Tiburzi, Asian Affairs: an American Review, 2013; “Food Security in Southeast Asia: Beggar Thy Neighbor or Cooperation?” Pacific Affairs, fall 2013, and “An Update on Democracy in Asia: Models or Cautionary Tales?<http://www.cgpublisher.com/works/33820/1/manage_workspace>” fall, 2012. Her most recent book is Threatening the State: the Internationalization of Internal Conflicts (Routledge, 2013). Previous books include: Political Change and Consolidation: Democracy’s Rocky Road in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia (Palgrave, 2006), and Political Participation and Ethnic Minorities (Routledge, 2000). She is a co-editor of Asian Security and the author of numerous journal articles relating to political economy questions, minority politics, and questions about political Islam. Her work appears in Journal of Civil Society, Religion and Politics, World Affairs, and elsewhere.
The Politics of Combating Infectious Diseases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East
This article compares the local responses to the 2012-2018 outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) to that of the Avian Influenza outbreak in Southeast Asia from 2003-2015. How well do countries cope with the spread of new and deadly diseases? Why are some countries better at addressing the problem than others? And, what does this tell us about larger questions concerning states’ abilities to provide public goods (in this case health security) to their citizens and about global systems to prevent pandemics? What this comparison demonstrates is that countries with the ‘strongest’ state capacity to make and implement policy are best able to confront disease outbreaks.
Civil society groups can play an important role in promoting and working for democracy and in holding political elites accountable to citizens. In Malaysia and Singapore, there have long been groups operating to represent interests in society, and many activists and scholars (in the West as well as in the two countries) have hoped that these groups would help push entrenched political leaders toward greater openness and democracy. Despite allowing a certain amount of space for civil society organizations to operate, neither Malaysia nor Singapore provides a model for civil society to crack open institutions and systems created to maintain authoritarian political power.
