Views from Down Underer
Analysis, news commentary, and opinions on the international relations of the Indo-Pacific and beyond as seen from the region by people from the region. An initiative of the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs (www.indopac.nz) in Christchurch, New Zealand, the podcast is hosted by Professor Alex Tan of the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand) with panelists Dr Juhn Chris Espia of the University of the Philippines Visayas, Associate Professor Nick Khoo of the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand), Dr Orson Tan and Neel Vanvari of the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs.
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Episodes
10 hours ago
10 hours ago
Biden bows out of politics with his farewell address. Trump claims he has a hand in the Gaza ceasefire. India seems to be acknowledging an assassination plot on a US citizen. Landmines was stored wrongly in IKEA and a Polish general responsible for logistics was fired. After years of National Geographic's Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego program, the defense secretary nominee cannot identify a member of ASEAN.
Monday Jan 13, 2025
Monday Jan 13, 2025
Trump threatens to take Greenland from Denmark and does not rule out the use of force. Indonesia has joined BRICS as a full member.
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
Elon Musk is on the news about supporting the UK Reform Party and him dabbling into UK politics. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau calling it quits. Lastly, news about China paying off Houthis for safe passage in the Red Sea.
Monday Dec 30, 2024
Monday Dec 30, 2024
Studies about democracies in the last eight years or so have focused on democratic recession or backsliding. Yet, there are democracies that do not regress but instead stagnate. We discuss an academic article that suggest that some democracies hit their ceilings and do not progress further because of the legacy of nationalist polarization that persist.
Reference:
Aram Hur and Andrew Yeo. 2024. Democratic Ceilings: The Long Shadow of Nationalist Polarization in East Asia. Comparative Political Studies 57(4): 584-612.
Monday Dec 23, 2024
Monday Dec 23, 2024
We share about how the news we were watching out for in early 2024 transpired, what news caught us by surprise, and what are some of the news that we are watching out for in 2025.
Thursday Dec 19, 2024
Thursday Dec 19, 2024
Syria's Assad regime suddenly collapse after 50 years of brutal rule. What's next? European politics is volatile these days. French president Macron has appointed a fifth prime minister to head a fragmented National Assembly. German chancellor Scholz's government suffered no-confidence vote. Many other problem spots within Europe. So what's happening?
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
South Korean President Yoon declared martial law and then had to rescind it once the National Assembly voted it down. Impeachment motion failed to pass the National Assembly leading to continued demonstrations in the country calling the president to resign. At the moment, a political stalemate seems likely to linger as the president refuses to step down.
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
In this episode, our special guest Prof Youngho Cho of Sogang University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, discusses his research on why South Korea's presidential system is plague by a tit-for-tat political witch hunt.
Sunday Dec 01, 2024
Sunday Dec 01, 2024
This episode is a chat from what we have learned in our study tour of Taiwan.
Monday Nov 18, 2024
Monday Nov 18, 2024
We chat about the plausible foreign policy implications of the results of the 2024 US elections.
Views from Down Underer
Kwentuhan/Talakayan -- Tagalog words for 'telling a story' and 'discussion' -- describe what our podcast is all about. We are a barkada (group) of political science and international relations geeks based in New Zealand that analyses, comments, and discusses global and regional affairs. As scholars, we bring our academic expertise to help listeners make sense of the news we all watch, read, and listen. Being born and raised in the region, we bring our unique backgrounds to bear to provide perspectives of and from down underer (P.S. It is not a typo. New Zealand is further south of Australia -- the land down under).
About Us
Alex Tan (host) is professor of political science and international relations at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, honorary professor of the NZDF Command and Staff College, university chair professor of political science at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan. He holds a PhD in political science from Texas A&M University.
Nick Khoo (panelist) is associate professor of international relations at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand and received his PhD in political science from Columbia University.
Juhn Chris Espia (panelist) is assistant professor of political science at the University of the Philippines at Visayas. He holds a PhD in political science and international relations from the University of Canterbury.
Orson Tan (panelist) is senior research fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs. He holds a PhD in political science and international relations from the University of Canterbury.
Neel Vanvari (panelist) is research fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs. He is a PhD candidate in political science from the University of Canterbury.