[Event] World Order Lab’s Global Order, Statecraft, and Contemporary Security Discourse #4
Across the Indo-Pacific, states of vastly different size and capacity are being asked to raise defense and security spending at precisely the moment their fiscal space is most constrained. Middle powers in Southeast Asia are absorbing the costs of territorial deterrence alongside domestic economic pressure, while small Pacific Island states are negotiating security partnerships with larger powers even as they manage debt burdens, aid dependency, and limited fiscal buffers. This webinar reframes a single-country conversation about defense budgets into a region-wide inquiry: what does the growing weight of security spending reveal about how Indo-Pacific states, large and small, are absorbing the economic costs of intensifying great-power competition.
To examine how Indo-Pacific states navigate the growing pressures of great-power competition, the Southeast Asia Pacific Frontier and World Order Lab are organizing a webinar entitled “Defense Spending Amid Economic Crisis: A Comparative Political Economy of the Indo-Pacific.” The webinar will discuss the trade-offs governments may face as security spending increases, including pressures on public finances, development priorities, and economic resilience amid an increasingly competitive regional security environment.
Event Details:
Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
Time:
2:30 PM to 4:00 PM (Jakarta/Bangkok/Hanoi time - GMT+7)
3:30 PM to 5:00 PM (Philippines/Singapore/Malaysia time - GMT+8
Venue: Online via Zoom Meeting
We are pleased to be joined by brilliant young panelists, including:
Jomari Jesus Tan - Instructor of Department of Political Science, University of Santo Tomas, and Member of Advisory Board, Southeast Asia Pacific Frontier; and
Ibnurafi Andapura - Senior Analyst, Southeast Asia Desk & Interim Chair of Anti-Corruption Working Group, World Order Lab;
The webinar will be moderated by Alfath Aziz Kurnia, Senior Communications Associate & Interim Deputy Chair of Maritime Security Working Group, World Order Lab. It will be conducted in English and is open to World Order Lab members and the general public.
Register here: https://forms.gle/owUbkKY4odoe9uGr9.
Learn more about the event: Concept Note & Program
For more information, please contact us at info@worldorderlab.com.
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World Order Lab is a youth-driven, nonpartisan, and non-profit think-tank dedicated to advancing rigorous analysis and producing high-impact insights on the world’s most pressing security and governance challenges, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia.