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.