Meredith Weiss
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merweiss.bsky.social
Meredith Weiss
@merweiss.bsky.social

Professor of political science at SUNY Albany. Activism, elections, democracy/reversal, rights, reform, etc. Often in Southeast Asia, or wanting to be there.

Political science 55%
Sociology 34%

Reposted by Meredith Weiss

New event!
📆2nd Dec
🕠5:30pm UK Time

LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre and the Department of Gender Studies host @merweiss.bsky.social for talk "Scapegoating queers: Pink-blocking as state strategy" discussing how queer identities continue to be targeted & scapegoated in Malaysian politics

Latest in the Politics & Society in SE Asia Elements series: Pamela McElwee's Sustainable Development and the Environment in Southeast Asia. How can SEA best address environmental costs of development, beyond SDGs?
Free to download for the next 2 weeks! @pammcelwee.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/5cx83knt
Sustainable Development and the Environment in Southeast Asia
Cambridge Core - South-East Asian Government, Politics and Policy - Sustainable Development and the Environment in Southeast Asia
www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Allen Hicken

Crazy events occasionally compel me to venture out of my usual cozy niche in comparative politics and into foreign policy ... And few recent events (at least in my world) have been quite so crazy as this nomination.
theconversation.com/malaysia-con...
Malaysia confronts the realities of MAGA diplomacy and Trump’s brash ambassadorial pick
For decades, Malaysia and the US have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. Could that be changing?
theconversation.com

Reposted by Meredith Weiss

Nick Adams, Trump's pick for US ambassador to Malaysia, has raised eyebrows with his brash persona and lack of diplomatic experience.

His nomination marks a turning point in U.S.-Malaysian relations, according to a political science professor. buff.ly/X65WHRs
By @merweiss.bsky.social @albany.edu
Malaysia confronts the realities of MAGA diplomacy and Trump’s brash ambassadorial pick
For decades, Malaysia and the US have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. Could that be changing?
buff.ly

New article, with Ibrahim Suffian and Ted Lee: "Malaysia’s Democratic Deficit: Why Youth May Not Be the Answer." (Abbreviated abstract: not all youth are politically "progressive.") This piece was looong in coming – so all the happier to see it finally in print!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Malaysia’s democratic deficit: why youth may not be the answer: Democratization: Vol 0, No 0 - Get Access
Browse all journals
www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Meredith Weiss

Doing a "Bangkok after Dark" book talk at Book Culture (Manhattan location) on July 9, with Rianne Subijanto who also has a new book.

Details/register: www.bookculture.com/event/112th-...

Thanks to @sunycunyseac.bsky.social for setting it up!
www.bookculture.com

A bit delayed in posting, but my recap of Singapore's less-than-shocking general elections last month: eastasiaforum.org/2025/06/03/p...
People’s Action Party prevails in Singapore
Singapore’s election result signals the population’s widespread desire for stability and consistency.
eastasiaforum.org

From Mary Callahan, whose judgment one can trust, on Myanmar earthquake relief: support on-the-ground efforts with "track records of working entirely with local organizations and of moving money with minimal overhead via the informal hundi system IMMEDIATELY." She recommends tinyurl.com/4xatjvvz
Myanmar Earthquake Relief
Support earthquake relief efforts in Myanmar
tinyurl.com

The latest Element in Politics & Society in SE Asia is out: Diana Kim's "Rethinking Colonial Legacies across SE Asia"! Kim explores the significance & legacies of Japan's WWII occupation of SE Asia for understanding colonial legacies. Download FREE through 2 April.
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Rethinking Colonial Legacies across Southeast Asia
Cambridge Core - Asian Studies - Rethinking Colonial Legacies across Southeast Asia
www.cambridge.org

Upcoming webinar (3/11, 7-8:30pm ET), trying to make sense of (or at least, get a better grasp on) the implications of shifting/collapsing US policy and aid in Myanmar. Germane to that fraught context, but also to the rest of SE Asia and globally.
www.sunycunysoutheastasiaconsortium.org/events

Fantastic new volume in CUP Elements SE Asia series: @merlyna.bsky.social's "Social Media & Politics in Southeast Asia." FREE download through 17 Feb! A nuanced, astute take on character & implications of rise & amplification of social-media platforms across SE Asia (& beyond). tinyurl.com/yeykd4ee
Social Media and Politics in Southeast Asia
Cambridge Core - South-East Asian Government, Politics and Policy - Social Media and Politics in Southeast Asia
tinyurl.com

Launching 5 Jan, from Cornell UP: the paperback version of The Roots of Resilience! My book is born again ... 😅 Available for pre-order now!
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
The Roots of Resilience by Meredith L. Weiss | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In The Roots of Resilience Meredith L. Weiss examines governance from the ground up in the world's two most enduring electoral authoritarian or "hybrid" regimes—Singapore and Malaysia—where politicall...
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu

Happy to announce the latest volume in the CUP Elements series on SE Asia, Jacques Bertrand's ambitious and astute, "State and Sub-State Nationalism in Southeast Asia"! Just in time to include on your spring-semester course syllabi! 😃
FREE to download for 4 weeks: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
State and Sub-State Nationalism in Southeast Asia
Cambridge Core - East Asian Government, Politics and Policy - State and Sub-State Nationalism in Southeast Asia
www.cambridge.org

An honor ... and a lot of fun! :D

Reposted by Meredith Weiss

Giving a talk previewing the Milk Tea Alliance book at Stanford on December 3, so glad to have @merweiss.bsky.social commenting & Gi-Wook Shin moderating fsi.stanford.edu/events/youth...
Youth Movements in Asia, Past and Present: The Transnational Side of the
fsi.stanford.edu
Nancy Mace has introduced a federal bathroom ban which would ban trans people from bathrooms in DCA and Dulles airports, national park bathrooms, museum bathrooms, and all federal building bathrooms.

Reposted this elsewhere while watching the election returns come in, as it became clear how much perverse pull transphobia has had in MAGAland. Seems apropos for a first post on this new platform ... SE Asia-focused – or so I thought.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Scapegoating queers: Pink-blocking as state strategy - Meredith L Weiss, 2023
Malaysia’s ‘democratic transition’ in May 2018, when a challenger coalition ousted the long-dominant incumbent coalition, raised hopes of a new political climat...
journals.sagepub.com
#CFP “Global Southeast Asia: Continuity and Change,” Association of Southeast Asian Studies conference at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, September 15-17, 2025. Submit paper and panel abstracts by April 30 for consideration.
Call for Submissions: ASEAS 2025 Conference
“Global Southeast Asia: Continuity and Change” St John’s College, University of Cambridge, 15–17 September 2025 The conference organising committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies (AS…
buff.ly