Abstract
COVID-19 is a nonhuman threat that has thrust disease to the center of discourses about geopolitics, security, and national sovereignty. This chapter examines the multilateral, regional, and national dimensions of COVID-19 as the pandemic has played out in Southeast Asia. National vignettes are utilized to reveal different geopolitical dimensions of COVID-19 responses and influences. COVID-19 has had enormous implications for migrant workers worldwide, which may reinforce preexisting prejudices and practices of exclusion. In Singapore’s case, migrant infection clusters have generated a growing state and public recognition of the nation’s dependence on foreign workers as part of its political economic drive for growth and survival. The use of “war metaphors” as national propaganda against the disease and as a means for state-nation-building are explored in the case of Vietnam. Even a force as deadly as a global pandemic cannot prevent humanmade geopolitical rifts from becoming deeper. The chapter explores how the military in Myanmar have exploited the timing of pandemic and targeted public health workers in order to strengthen a hold over the country following a military coup. Finally, the chapter considers “ways forward,” and suggests that we draw inspiration from frontline workers, everyday struggles, and the realm of public health in order to seek sustainable meanings of justice and security.
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Grundy-Warr, C. (2022). COVID-19 Geopolitics in Southeast Asia: Regional and National Health (in)Securities in Times of Pandemic. In: Brunn, S.D., Gilbreath, D. (eds) COVID-19 and a World of Ad Hoc Geographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94350-9_15
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