ABSTRACT This research investigates how political institutional development can mitigate corruption in Thailand by drawing lessons from South Korea's reform trajectory. Anchored in the frameworks, the study explains both electoral behavior and the strategic constraints of policy implementation in patronage‐based systems. Through comparative analysis, it highlights how Korea's shift toward independent oversight, digital transparency, and coordinated e‐governance helped dismantle information monopolies and reduce agency costs. In contrast, Thailand's fragmented political landscape, entrenched monopolistic structures, and informal coalitions continue to undermine accountability. By contextualizing Korea's experiences within Thailand's institutional realities, the study proposes pragmatic, sequenced reforms—ranging from digital democracy to structural adjustments in public sector compensation.

ABSTRACT Does collaboration between the state and civil society offer a powerful tool to achieve an effective pandemic response? We address this question using a case study of the COVID‐19 response in Bengaluru, India. We review the collaborative governance literature and analyze India's pandemic‐related laws, regulations, reports, and academic studies. We supplement these with interviews with governmental and non‐governmental actors involved in the COVID‐19 response. We find that, overall, collaborative governance does not succeed in Bengaluru, attributing failure to weak institutionalization, low trust, and poor state‐civil society relations. Only in rare situations do we encounter the successful collaboration identified in the literature as key to effective response. Furthermore, given the structure of Indian governance, we suggest that collaborative governance is unlikely to be effective across India. Our results contribute to a broader understanding of why and in what circumstances collaborative governance fails.

ABSTRACT This article examines the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), EIA Addendum, and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) used to evaluate the Watuputih Groundwater Basin in the designated karst area of North Kendeng Mountain, planned for cement mining. Using discourse analysis of systematic language and text, it compares the narratives and framings within these documents. The analysis reveals a complex relationship between dominant and alternative discourses. The dominant policy discourse, reflected in the EIA and its addendum, is shaped by powerful actors such as cement companies and the Central Java provincial government, who explicitly prioritize economic development. In contrast, the alternative discourse, represented in the SEA, promotes a more sustainable approach to governing the karst landscape. This contrast highlights competing environmental governance paradigms and the political role of environmental assessments. Ultimately, the study shows how key actors influence public perception and policy direction through competing knowledge claims embedded in environmental assessment frameworks.

ABSTRACT This study investigates how political partisanship and emotional responses influenced Taiwanese public trust in government during COVID‐19. Drawing on crisis management and partisan motivated reasoning theories, we conducted a two‐phase survey ( N = 2136) examining attitudes toward six significant pandemic events. Political affiliation was the predominant predictor of attitudes toward governmental pandemic responses, with substantial differences between pan‐Green and pan‐Blue supporters. Education and relative deprivation also emerged as consistent predictors, with higher education corresponding to more critical evaluations. Most notably, negative emotions—particularly anger—significantly moderated the relationship between political affiliation and government trust. Anger demonstrated stronger moderating effects than fear across all models. These findings contradict the “rally‐around‐the‐flag” effect, suggesting Taiwan's pre‐existing political cleavages remained salient and were amplified by emotional responses during the pandemic, advancing understanding of differential emotional influences on political attitudes during crises within competitive democratic contexts.

ABSTRACT Why do states conduct naval diplomacy? While existing literature highlights its diplomatic utility, it often drowns in tautology. To escape the pit, the article asks: why do states conduct naval diplomacy in the 21st‐century Indo‐Pacific? It argues that naval diplomacy is a signaling act to communicate contributive status in a multiplex maritime order. Using Liberal Realism and Smart Power logic, the article compares Australia, Japan, and India's engagements with the Philippines. It finds that naval diplomacy signals legitimacy and adaptation—not just diplomatic functions. Order Contributors (Australia, Japan, and India) shape the rules‐based order on their terms, while Order Stakeholders (Philippines) assert agency to sustain regional public goods. The article challenges binaries like the China–United States Thucydides Trap that beset the Indo‐Pacific and reframes the strategic logic of contemporary naval diplomacy.

ABSTRACT This study examines Japan's and South Korea's responses to Myanmar after the military coup in 2021. To this end, this study draws on normative theory and proposes a typology of democracy promotion considering the degree of interaction between an external democracy promoter and a partner country: control, conditionality, persuasion, and assistance. The case study argues that Japan and South Korea have coped with the military coup in Myanmar with persuasion and assistance instruments, while Western democracy promoters have imposed more coercive measures such as economic sanctions and political conditionality. That is, even though democracy promoters share the norm of democracy promotion, the way it is implemented is diverse depending on the democracy promoter. In the case of Myanmar, in addition, this study points out that the practical divergence of democracy promotion has the potential to complement each other's instruments and increase the possibility of democracy protection in the country.