InAsia Podcast - The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia
“Even before the global pandemic turned us all upside down, the world had experienced a tumultuous period of rising tension, polarization, and conflict. Across Asia, high-profile events have created the impression of a new era of instability and violence.
“In 2017, extremists took over the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines, leading to five months of aerial bombardment and a bloody urban siege. That same year, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh following a series of brutal attacks on their villages. In February 2021, the Myanmar military took over that country and arrested elected civilian leaders, leading to months of protest and violent repression. Several months later, and several thousand miles to the west, the Taliban reasserted control of Afghanistan amid scenes of fear and chaos.
“Surprisingly, however, in spite of these harrowing events, the overall levels of violence across most of Asia have trended downward in the past decade. Afghanistan is still rife with conflict, but organized violence elsewhere in South and Southeast Asia has generally declined in scale and intensity, causing fewer than 2,000 recorded fatalities in 2020, a huge drop from almost 10,000 in 2010.
“Why do the figures show this trend in Asia when the rest of the world has experienced an overall rise in both conflict fatalities and the number of active conflicts or wars over the same period? The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia 2021, newly released by The Asia Foundation, delivers a comprehensive assessment, through succinct regional overviews and individual country chapters, that explains how Asian countries fit into some global patterns while also displaying their own characteristics.”
Adam Burke summarizes & analyzes The Asia Foundation’s The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia 2021 report in this episode of the InAsia podcast.
Listen on The Asia Foundation website.
