21. Digital Southeast Asia:Opportunities for Australia–India cooperation to support the region in the post-Covid-19 context
- Author:
- Huon Curtis, Bart Hogeveen, Jocelinn Kang, Huong Le Thu, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, and Trisha Ray
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)
- Abstract:
- Covid-19 and the subsequent public-health responses have disrupted social and economic lives across the globe. Fiscal support measures may have alleviated the initial fallout in some places, but one of the bigger shocks has been the accelerated adoption and integration of and reliance on digital technologies. While this is a positive contribution towards digital development, it has also accentuated the already large gap between those able to adopt digital technologies and those without sufficient means to do so. For the many fragile democracies in the Indo-Pacific, this is creating conditions that could undermine democratic resilience. A central question for these democratic governments is how to drive accelerating digital transformation and ICT-enabled growth towards poverty reduction, sustainable economic growth and building social cohesion while maintaining resilience to cybersecurity threats. Southeast Asians are exceptional consumers of online goods and services. The region is also home to a growing number of technology start-ups, and governments are pushing this ‘drive for digital’ through ambitious national strategies. Despite those positives, digital growth within the region and within individual economies is uneven.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, COVID-19, and Digital Policy
- Political Geography:
- India, Australia, and Southeast Asia