Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) Publishing is a dynamic academic press with more than 40 years’ experience.
It is the largest publisher of academic books focusing on Southeast Asian politics, economics, and social issues. Since 1970 it has issued more than 2,000 books and journals, publishing an average of 70 a year.
ISEAS Highlights
Beyond Geopolitics
At the midpoint of the Marcos Jr. presidency, questions about the direction of Philippine governance have taken on new urgency. Coming to power in the wake of a violent populist regime, the administration faces heightened expectations: How will it distinguish itself from its predecessor? What major political, economic and social developments have unfolded so far? Why has policy progress emerged in some areas but stalled in others—and how effective are the new approaches being pursued? And how will the administration manage its own factional splits and internal infighting? This edited volume provides a timely and comprehensive assessment of the Marcos Jr. administration at midterm. Bringing together eighteen chapters by leading scholars and practitioners, it examines the administration’s performance, priorities and evolving governance style across five thematic parts: Governing at Midterm; Contested Narratives; Oligarchic Continuities; Challenges in Development and Delivery: Infrastructure and Agriculture; and Emergent Areas of Governance. While the administration has maintained several practices from the Duterte period, it has also marked out new directions. Taken together, the contributions reveal a complex and at times contradictory governance landscape—one in which entrenched oligarchic interests, political survival and shifting domestic and geopolitical pressures intersect. Offering clear-eyed analysis and forward-looking insights, this volume equips scholars, students, policymakers and observers with an essential guide to understanding the political and policy landscape of the Philippines under Marcos Jr. It also identifies critical areas for reform to address democratic fragility, uneven development and polarization.
Public Diplomacy in the Digital Arena
US public diplomacy operates through a decentralized model that prioritizes local adaptation and high-volume messaging, while China relies on a centralized system emphasizing narrative discipline and message uniformity. Quantitative engagement data show that Chinese embassies consistently achieve higher engagement efficiency than their US counterparts; four of the top-performing five missions by conversion rate are Chinese, converting audience reach into public interaction more effectively across the region. Institutional structure shapes content strategy and audience alignment. US embassies emphasize people-to-people ties, partnerships and future-oriented cooperation with localized framing; and narratives remain stable despite leadership changes in Washington, with only 5 per cent of posts reposting senior US officials’ statements. Chinese embassies emphasize friendship and development narratives with minimal country-specific variation. About 20 per cent of Chinese posts are reposts from senior CCP or MFA figures, reinforcing consistency but limiting localization. Financial investment does not reliably translate into influence: Financial and engagement metrics reveal diminishing returns to scale in digital diplomacy. Larger budgets and bigger audiences produce weaker proportional influence, while smaller well-aligned missions convert attention into engagement more efficiently. China currently achieves greater “observed ROI” in Southeast Asia’s digital information environment. Even in the absence of transparent Chinese budget data, Chinese missions outperform US missions in transforming visibility into engagement, indicating superior performance in digital diplomacy. Divergent institutional strategies explain much of the performance gap: US public diplomacy remains oriented towards high-volume information dissemination, whereas China’s model emphasizes message discipline, narrative coherence, and targeted audience engagement. Expert interviews confirm that regional audiences privilege credibility and local relevance over message volume: Across twenty regional specialists surveyed, trust in US public diplomacy remains higher overall, but China is increasingly competitive because of its economic centrality and disciplined messaging.
Rising China, Chinese Culture and Its Transformation in Southeast Asia
The study of China’s culture in Southeast Asia is particularly significant as some observers misconceive Chinese culture in Southeast Asia as purely “Chinese”, as if it had not been influenced by local conditions, including nationalism. In reality, Chinese culture in Southeast Asia is imbued with distinct differences that set itself apart from that in mainland China. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the rise of China has made the further transformation of local Chinese culture difficult, if not impossible. This book aims to examine the following: the current status of Chinese religions, language, literature, music and performing arts in Southeast Asia, their local characteristics, their position in both local Chinese and non-Chinese local society, and their problems and prospects. Seventeen scholars have been invited to present papers to deal with the above themes and with one exception, their revised papers are eventually included in this book. This is the most up-to-date publication that addresses the topic of Chinese culture and its transformation in Southeast Asia.
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