October 11, 2023

Southeast Asia’s Challenges and Future

Southeast Asia has grown increasingly visible recently, not just as a context for geopolitical struggle between the US and the People’s Republic of China, but because of its own economic, demographic, and cultural trends. Located at the crossroads of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the region has an unparalleled role as a a strategic maritime zone. The region is home to a number of important shipping lanes, including the Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.  The region has a combined population of over 660 million people,  Indonesia recently hosted the G20, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is becoming an important player in international economics and politics.  

 Dr. Kluver will discuss the importance of Southeast Asia as a context for geopolitical influence between the US and China, but also look at the challenges faced by these nations and the potential they have to shape their own futures, as well as the future of the rest of the world. 

Randy Kluver is the Associate Provost and Dean of the OSU Global and the School of Global Studies, and holds the Don and Cathey Humphreys Chair in Global Studies at Oklahoma State University.  Dr. Kluver has a long record of research on Asian politics, global media, globalization, and the political and geopolitical impact of information technologies and new media. He has published six books and dozens of peer reviewed articles, and has done extensive consulting with the US Department of Defense Joint Staff, the International Varieties of Democracy project, and the Research Council of Hong Kong. Dr. Kluver was recently principal investigator on an analysis of global media coverage of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, which was published as the Global Media and Strategic Narratives of Contested Democracy: Chinese, Russian, and Arabic Media Narratives of the US Presidential Election. During his time in Singapore, Dr. Kluver was the founder of the Singapore Internet Research Centre and one of the principal investigators of the groundbreaking international analysis of the use of the Internet in elections around the world, The Internet and National Elections: a Comparative Study of Web Campaigning. Dr. Kluver has received national and international awards for his research and has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator for over $10 million in external funding.  

A native Oklahoman, Dr. Kluver studied at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Southern California and has held faculty appointments or fellowships in four different nations, including the US, China, New Zealand, and Singapore.