Unmasking the social policy responses of COVID-19 in four Southeast Asian Nations: institutional patterns and policy adjustment

ABSTRACT

This article aimed to compare the social policy responses to COVID-19 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand using an institutionalist’s perspective. So far, the crisis expanded social protection through temporary schemes, with rare reforms, and opened greater possibilities for future institutionalisation of new policies. We argue that the COVID-19 policy responses must be viewed as an unfinished agenda of expansion-driven policy responses to the 1997–1998 financial crisis. Still, these are different sets of measures from the previous crisis, which have been characterised by minimal systemic changes. The variegated responses of countries reveal hitherto unexplored policy implications for the Southeast Asian region.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• Southeast Asia
• institutional continuity and change
• Social policy
• Policy response

Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous referees for their constructive feedback and helpful comments. We also thank Ku Yeun-wen and Chung-Yang Yeh for preparing this Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work & Development special issue.

We want to acknowledge the institutional support of the Department of Social Development & Welfare, School of Social & Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia, and the Department of Society & Health, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Thailand.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declare none.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tauchid Komara Yuda

Tauchid Komara Yuda is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Development and Welfare at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia, and had ever been a Visiting Professor at the Department of Society and Health, Mahidol University, Thailand. He is on official leave to pursue doctoral studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR. His research on politics and policies of social welfare have been published in leading international journals (such as Social Policy & Administration, International Journal of Social Welfare, Social Policy & Society, International Social Work, Public Administration & Development, etc.)

Minah Kim

Minah Kim is a former researcher in the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, South Korea. Her focus of interest lies on disability policy, social policy, international development, and international cooperation. She is currently working on developing a project evaluation index for Centers for Disabled Children and Developmental Disabilities at the Korea Disabled People’s Development Institute.

Aungsumalee Pholpark

Aungsumalee Pholpark is a social and health policy lecturer in the Department of Society and Health, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Thailand. She holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Yonsei University, South Korea. Her research interests are social protection, health insurance, long-term care, population ageing, and other related topics with reference to Thailand and Southeast Asia. Her recent co-authored article on health and welfare regimes is available in the Journal of International & Comparative Social Policy.

Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman

Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman is a PhD Researcher at the School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR. His research interests are in the area of, but are not limited to, educational policy, health, and well-being, as well as general welfare policy from a comparative perspective. He has previously published in the International Journal of Chinese Education and the Asian Social Work and Policy Review.