The Nordic Asia Podcast

For more than 60 years, Malaysian politics was extremely predictable - the same dominant party, UMNO, had remained in power since independence. All that changed in 2018, and with the latest change of government this March, all bets are off. In this podcast, leading Malaysia expert Bridget Welsh of the University of Nottingham's Malaysia campus discusses these fascinating developments with Duncan McCargo.

In this episode, Jyrki Kallio from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs joins Andreas Bøje Forsby from NIAS to talk about Finnish-Chinese relations, which are officially guided by the so-called ‘future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership’. Their wide-ranging conversation covers Chinese investments in Finland, Huawei and 5G technology, the Belt & Road Initiative, and Finland’s position in the EU with respect to China-related issues.  

In this episode Björn Jerdén from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs joins Andreas Bøje Forsby from NIAS to talk about Sweden-China relations which have taken a significant downward turn over the past couple of years. The conversation revolves around a number of specific topics that have recently dominated bilateral relations, including the “Gui Minhai” case, the assertive role played by the Chinese embassy in Stockholm, Chinese economic investments in Sweden, the Covid-19 pandemic and the US-China great power rivalry.

In this COVID-19 episode that is recorded in India and enlivened with Indian soundscapes, Marjaana Jauhola and Shyam Gadhavi talk about the lockdown in Kachchh district, Gujarat and give voices to farmers and urban poor on their concerns of the impact of COVID-19 on their daily life. A longer video version of the episode is available here https://youtu.be/T0ADjM2avf4

In this episode, Henrik Stålhane Hiim from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs joins Andreas Bøje Forsby from NIAS to discuss recent developments between Norway and China since the normalization of their bilateral relations in late 2016 (after a six years freeze). The conversation addresses topics such as the recent spike in Chinese investments in Norway, the Covid-19 pandemic, the role played by Europe/the EU and the specific implications for Norway of the burgeoning US-China great power rivalry.

In this podcast, Allen Hicken of the University of Michigan tells Duncan McCargo all about an exciting comparative exploration of money and machine politics in Southeast Asia. This large Australian-funded project has involved extensive fieldwork over several years in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, looking at everything from village-level vote-buying, to massive government pork-barrel schemes like Malaysia’s 1MBD. Their forthcoming co-authored monograph will offer new insights into how money fuels Southeast Asia’s politics.

In this episode, Sirpa Tenhunen and Jelena Salmi talk to Xenia Zeiler about fieldwork experiences, journalistic reporting, and social media debates around the COVID-19 situation in India. With fresh stories from their fieldwork and reviews of journalistic reporting in India, they discuss whether the pandemic might contribute to social and political changes, particularly in favor of migrants, and influence the policies of India's present Government led by Prime Minister Modi.

In this episode of Covid-19 podcasts, Silja Keva talks to Kamila Szczepanska and Yoko Demelius about the impacts of the pandemic in Japan. While the state of emergency has now been lifted, the societal impacts of the pandemic are surfacing: gender inequalities and the vulnerability of homeless and illegal immigrants have been amplified. Tensions between municipal and national administration emerged in a lack of an overall strategy to handle the pandemic. In the time of crisis local level actors have stepped up to present much-needed leadership.

In this episode, anthropologist Dr Megha Amrith joins Adela Brianso to discuss her research in migrant labour and care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amrith shares her insights on the current migration regimes in Asia and around the world, the undervalued work of nurses and carers and the heritage of colonialism still present today. 

In this wide-ranging podcast conversation, Mikael Mattlin talks to Outi Luova about the impact of COVID-19 on China and the global economy. The COVID-19 crisis may help restructure societies to become more environmentally friendly, but is also boosting the economic role of the state, so seemingly validating China's ways of organising state-economy relations.