Technology and Tensions in Southeast Asia (Hybrid)

October 24, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Mānoa Campus, 258 Moore Hall or Online (Zoom)

Tech-optimism is palpable throughout Southeast Asia, from the proliferation of government policies to the rise of investor confidence and consumer adoption. Yet, the concentration of power and influence in the hands of a small number of players, particularly from abroad, is shaping the region’s contours of infrastructural and “soft” connectivity. In addition, as Southeast Asian nations contemplate framing their own contextually-relevant rules of the road on data-driven technologies, US-China tensions add a complicating factor to an already fragmenting landscape. Will Southeast Asian governments be compelled to choose between different governance models through their technological decisions? Is the region consigned to being mere users and rule-takers? How might the region assert its agency in a space dominated by larger powers and players? Join us on Tuesday, October 24 at 11:00 am–12:00 pm HST for a presentation by Elina Noor (Senior Fellow, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) followed by a discussion moderated by Kristi Govella (Director, Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, University of Hawai‘i at ԴDz).

This is a hybrid event. It will be held in 258 Moore Hall at the University of Hawai‘i at ԴDz campus, and you can also join via Zoom. To register on Zoom, go to

Elina Noor is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where she focuses on developments in Southeast Asia, particularly the impact and implications of technology in reshaping power dynamics, governance, and nation-building in the region. Prior to joining Carnegie, Noor was director of political-security affairs and deputy director of the Washington, D.C. office at the Asia Society Policy Institute, associate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, director of foreign policy and security studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, and part of the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. Between 2017 and 2019, she was a member of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, and she currently serves on the ICRC’s Global Advisory Board on digital threats during conflict. Noor holds a B.A. in Jurisprudence from Oxford University, an LL.M (Public International Law) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London and an M.A. in security studies from Georgetown University. This event is cosponsored by the University of Hawai‘i at ԴDz Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and Department of Asian Studies.


Event Sponsor
Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Department of Asian Studies, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, 8089562689, cipa@hawaii.edu,

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