Kai Ostwald
Biographic Data
| ID | 733085 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kai Ostwald |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kai |
| FAMILY NAME | Ostwald |
| SIGNATURE | OSTWALD K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9876-955X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 117 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Comparative Analysis of One Health Policies in Asia for Exploring Opportunities for British Columbia in Canada
In response to emerging challenges that intersect humans, animals, and environments, there is growing international exigent need to adopt 'One Health' approaches. While One Health efforts are emerging in British Columbia in Canada, there are still challenges to overcome in the adoption of a One Health approach in policymaking. We conducted a comparative analysis of One Health policies in Asia, specifically, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and T…
Malaysia in 2022
Malaysia held a general election in 2022 that was expected to resolve ongoing political instability. Instead, it produced a hung parliament, reflecting a deeply divided electorate and growing support for Islamist politics. Following a royal intervention, Anwar Ibrahim’s progressive coalition formed a unity government with the long-dominant UMNO and East Malaysian parties; this unprecedented arrangement faces evolving social, political, and econom…
Voting behaviour under doubts of ballot secrecy: Reinforcing Dominant Party Rule
Ballot secrecy is a cornerstone of electoral democracy, since its real or perceived absence can make voters reluctant to express their true preferences. Through survey data from Singapore, we show that doubts over ballot secrecy can alter voting behaviour even when the vote is secret and there are no individually-targeted punishments or incentives; specifically, they lead a small subset of Singaporean voters to support the dominant party, despite…
Malaysia in 2021
Malaysia remained firmly in the grip of both the COVID-19 pandemic and economic turmoil in 2021. Ongoing political instability led to an emergency proclamation that suspended Parliament for the first time since 1969, followed by an unprecedented public rebuke of political leaders by the Malaysian king, and the third new government in as many years. This returned the long-dominant UMNO to power. An unexpected political ceasefire promised extensive…
Placebo statements in list experiments: Evidence from a face-to-face survey in Singapore
List experiments are a widely used survey technique for estimating the prevalence of socially sensitive attitudes or behaviors. Their design, however, makes them vulnerable to bias: because treatment group respondents see a greater number of items (J + 1) than control group respondents (J), the treatment group mean may be mechanically inflated due simply to the greater number of items. The few previous studies that directly examine this do not ar…
Regional identity formation in Malaysia: Primacy of the political center and its essentialized ethnic identities
Contemporary Malaysia is an amalgamation of regions with distinct historical origins and features that provide the raw material for strong regional identities. The Malay‐Muslim nature of the nation‐building project led by the dominant United Malays Nasional Organisation (UMNO) has reified regional identities by sharpening the contrast between them and Malaysia’s political center. Yet while regional identities are often pronounced, Malaysian polit…
Malapportionment in Myanmar’s Elections: A Slumbering Menace
Attained SCOPUS CiteScore of 1.4 in 2019.Attained Journal Citation Report (JCR) Journal Impact Factor of 0.717 in 2019.SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) 2019 for the Asiatic Region: Ranked 1st in Political Science and International Relations; 1st in History; and 3rd in Arts and Humanities.Ranked 19th by Google Scholar Metrics 2020 in the category of “Asian Studies and History”
Four arenas: Malaysia’s 2018 election, reform, and democratization
Malaysia’s 2018 election ended more than six decades of dominant party rule by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Three questions are paramount. How did the opposition finally achieve victory? What did voters who rejected UMNO actually vote for? Finally, what do the answers imply for reform and democratization? We argue that Malaysia is comprised of four distinct identity-based polities, each with a unique electoral dynamic and visio…
Singapore's Pandemic Election: Opposition Parties and Valence Politics in GE2020
Singapore's 2020 general election was held amidst the most serious public health and economic crises in the country's history. Despite expectations that these parallel crises would precipitate a flight to safety and result in a strong performance by the dominant People's Action Party (PAP), the ruling party received its third-lowest popular vote share (61.2 percent) and lowest-ever seat share (89.2 percent) since independence. This article engage…
Triple Duel: The Impact of Coalition Fragmentation and Three-Corner Fights on the 2018 Malaysian Election
Malaysia's previously hegemonic Barisan Nasional (BN) government was unexpectedly defeated in the 2018 general election despite a fragmented opposition and widespread three-corner fights that theory states should inhibit turnover. Why? We argue that the opposition-split hypothesis rests on three core assumptions: third parties split only the anti-incumbent vote; coalition/party support is relatively uniform across the country; and opposition part…
Explaining Elections in Singapore: Dominant Party Resilience and Valence Politics
The People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore is one of the world's longest ruling dominant parties, having won every general election since the country's independence in 1965. Why do Singaporeans consistently vote for the PAP, contrary to the expectations of democratization theories? We argue that valence considerations—specifically, perceptions of party credibility—are the main factor in the voting behavior of Singapore's electorate, and are cri…
Rematch: Islamic politics, mobilisation, and the Indonesian presidential election
Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election brings a rematch between incumbent Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, though against a backdrop of increasingly active conservative Islamic movements. Analyses of this contest – as well as of contemporary Indonesian politics more generally – are often based on assumptions around which constituencies matter and which political factions they support. This paper examines those assumptions using an original datas…
Ethnic Segregation and Public Goods: Evidence from Indonesia
This article contributes to the study of ethnic diversity and public goods provision by assessing the role of the spatial distribution of ethnic groups. Through a new theory that we callspatial interdependence, we argue that the segregation of ethnic groups can reduce or even neutralize the "diversity penalty" in public goods provision that results from ethnic fractionalization. This is because local segregation allows communities to use disparit…
Malaysia’s Electoral Process: The Methods and Costs of Perpetuating Umno Rule
Malaysia will hold its 14th general election before August 2018, bringing renewed focus on the nature of political competition in the country. This paper provides a systematic overview of the electoral process and an assessment of how it shapes the country's political environment. Political competition in Malaysia is extensively manipulated to provide the incumbent government substantial advantages in elections. Most of the manipulations are a re…
Language politics, education, and ethnic integration: The pluralist dilemma in Singapore
Governments of ethno-linguistically diverse societies face a difficult dilemma in opting for which language to use in the education system. While allowing each ethnic group to use its own language is seen as vital for cultural preservation and increasingly as a basic human right, it may also inadvertently undermine social cohesion by contributing to de facto segregation of schools. But does educational segregation really beget social segregation,…
Context and Comparison in Southeast Asia: The Practical Side of the Area Studies-Discipline Debate A Response to the Special Issue of Pacific Affairs : “Context, Concepts, and Comparison in Southeast …
A recent Pacific Affairs special issue explores key dimensions of the discipline/ area studies divide in the context of Southeast Asia. It asks whether it is possible to use the comparative methods favoured by disciplines while doing justice to the rich nuance of individual cases. We offer a practical perspective on this debate. We argue that the demands of discipline audiences and area-studies audiences can vary significantly, making it difficul…
How to Win a Lost Election: Malapportionment and Malaysia’s 2013 General Election
Allegations of electoral irregularities loomed large prior to and following Malaysia's 13th general election in May 2013. Yet while these irregularities elicited strong reactions domestically and internationally, they are unlikely to have played a significant role in shaping the election's outcome. Rather than how the game was played, it was the very rules of the game itself that were responsible for returning the United Malays National Organizat…
How to Win a Lost Election: Malapportionment and Malaysia’s 2013 General Election
Allegations of electoral irregularities loomed large prior to and following Malaysia's 13th general election in May 2013. Yet while these irregularities elicited strong reactions domestically and internationally, they are unlikely to have played a significant role in shaping the election's outcome. Rather than how the game was played, it was the very rules of the game itself that were responsible for returning the United Malays National Organizat…
Ethnic Segregation and Public Goods: Evidence from Indonesia
This article contributes to the study of ethnic diversity and public goods provision by assessing the role of the spatial distribution of ethnic groups. Through a new theory that we callspatial interdependence, we argue that the segregation of ethnic groups can reduce or even neutralize the "diversity penalty" in public goods provision that results from ethnic fractionalization. This is because local segregation allows communities to use disparit…
Four arenas: Malaysia’s 2018 election, reform, and democratization
Malaysia’s 2018 election ended more than six decades of dominant party rule by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Three questions are paramount. How did the opposition finally achieve victory? What did voters who rejected UMNO actually vote for? Finally, what do the answers imply for reform and democratization? We argue that Malaysia is comprised of four distinct identity-based polities, each with a unique electoral dynamic and visio…
Explaining Elections in Singapore: Dominant Party Resilience and Valence Politics
The People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore is one of the world's longest ruling dominant parties, having won every general election since the country's independence in 1965. Why do Singaporeans consistently vote for the PAP, contrary to the expectations of democratization theories? We argue that valence considerations—specifically, perceptions of party credibility—are the main factor in the voting behavior of Singapore's electorate, and are cri…
Placebo statements in list experiments: Evidence from a face-to-face survey in Singapore
List experiments are a widely used survey technique for estimating the prevalence of socially sensitive attitudes or behaviors. Their design, however, makes them vulnerable to bias: because treatment group respondents see a greater number of items (J + 1) than control group respondents (J), the treatment group mean may be mechanically inflated due simply to the greater number of items. The few previous studies that directly examine this do not ar…
Triple Duel: The Impact of Coalition Fragmentation and Three-Corner Fights on the 2018 Malaysian Election
Malaysia's previously hegemonic Barisan Nasional (BN) government was unexpectedly defeated in the 2018 general election despite a fragmented opposition and widespread three-corner fights that theory states should inhibit turnover. Why? We argue that the opposition-split hypothesis rests on three core assumptions: third parties split only the anti-incumbent vote; coalition/party support is relatively uniform across the country; and opposition part…
Rematch: Islamic politics, mobilisation, and the Indonesian presidential election
Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election brings a rematch between incumbent Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, though against a backdrop of increasingly active conservative Islamic movements. Analyses of this contest – as well as of contemporary Indonesian politics more generally – are often based on assumptions around which constituencies matter and which political factions they support. This paper examines those assumptions using an original datas…
Singapore's Pandemic Election: Opposition Parties and Valence Politics in GE2020
Singapore's 2020 general election was held amidst the most serious public health and economic crises in the country's history. Despite expectations that these parallel crises would precipitate a flight to safety and result in a strong performance by the dominant People's Action Party (PAP), the ruling party received its third-lowest popular vote share (61.2 percent) and lowest-ever seat share (89.2 percent) since independence. This article engage…
Language politics, education, and ethnic integration: The pluralist dilemma in Singapore
Governments of ethno-linguistically diverse societies face a difficult dilemma in opting for which language to use in the education system. While allowing each ethnic group to use its own language is seen as vital for cultural preservation and increasingly as a basic human right, it may also inadvertently undermine social cohesion by contributing to de facto segregation of schools. But does educational segregation really beget social segregation,…
Regional identity formation in Malaysia: Primacy of the political center and its essentialized ethnic identities
Contemporary Malaysia is an amalgamation of regions with distinct historical origins and features that provide the raw material for strong regional identities. The Malay‐Muslim nature of the nation‐building project led by the dominant United Malays Nasional Organisation (UMNO) has reified regional identities by sharpening the contrast between them and Malaysia’s political center. Yet while regional identities are often pronounced, Malaysian polit…
Malapportionment in Myanmar’s Elections: A Slumbering Menace
Attained SCOPUS CiteScore of 1.4 in 2019.Attained Journal Citation Report (JCR) Journal Impact Factor of 0.717 in 2019.SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) 2019 for the Asiatic Region: Ranked 1st in Political Science and International Relations; 1st in History; and 3rd in Arts and Humanities.Ranked 19th by Google Scholar Metrics 2020 in the category of “Asian Studies and History”
Malaysia in 2022
Malaysia held a general election in 2022 that was expected to resolve ongoing political instability. Instead, it produced a hung parliament, reflecting a deeply divided electorate and growing support for Islamist politics. Following a royal intervention, Anwar Ibrahim’s progressive coalition formed a unity government with the long-dominant UMNO and East Malaysian parties; this unprecedented arrangement faces evolving social, political, and econom…
Malaysia in 2021
Malaysia remained firmly in the grip of both the COVID-19 pandemic and economic turmoil in 2021. Ongoing political instability led to an emergency proclamation that suspended Parliament for the first time since 1969, followed by an unprecedented public rebuke of political leaders by the Malaysian king, and the third new government in as many years. This returned the long-dominant UMNO to power. An unexpected political ceasefire promised extensive…
How to Win a Lost Election: Malapportionment and Malaysia’s 2013 General Election
Allegations of electoral irregularities loomed large prior to and following Malaysia's 13th general election in May 2013. Yet while these irregularities elicited strong reactions domestically and internationally, they are unlikely to have played a significant role in shaping the election's outcome. Rather than how the game was played, it was the very rules of the game itself that were responsible for returning the United Malays National Organizat…
Context and Comparison in Southeast Asia: The Practical Side of the Area Studies-Discipline Debate A Response to the Special Issue of Pacific Affairs : “Context, Concepts, and Comparison in Southeast …
A recent Pacific Affairs special issue explores key dimensions of the discipline/ area studies divide in the context of Southeast Asia. It asks whether it is possible to use the comparative methods favoured by disciplines while doing justice to the rich nuance of individual cases. We offer a practical perspective on this debate. We argue that the demands of discipline audiences and area-studies audiences can vary significantly, making it difficul…
Malaysia’s Electoral Process: The Methods and Costs of Perpetuating Umno Rule
Malaysia will hold its 14th general election before August 2018, bringing renewed focus on the nature of political competition in the country. This paper provides a systematic overview of the electoral process and an assessment of how it shapes the country's political environment. Political competition in Malaysia is extensively manipulated to provide the incumbent government substantial advantages in elections. Most of the manipulations are a re…
Language politics, education, and ethnic integration: The pluralist dilemma in Singapore
Governments of ethno-linguistically diverse societies face a difficult dilemma in opting for which language to use in the education system. While allowing each ethnic group to use its own language is seen as vital for cultural preservation and increasingly as a basic human right, it may also inadvertently undermine social cohesion by contributing to de facto segregation of schools. But does educational segregation really beget social segregation,…
Triple Duel: The Impact of Coalition Fragmentation and Three-Corner Fights on the 2018 Malaysian Election
Malaysia's previously hegemonic Barisan Nasional (BN) government was unexpectedly defeated in the 2018 general election despite a fragmented opposition and widespread three-corner fights that theory states should inhibit turnover. Why? We argue that the opposition-split hypothesis rests on three core assumptions: third parties split only the anti-incumbent vote; coalition/party support is relatively uniform across the country; and opposition part…
Explaining Elections in Singapore: Dominant Party Resilience and Valence Politics
The People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore is one of the world's longest ruling dominant parties, having won every general election since the country's independence in 1965. Why do Singaporeans consistently vote for the PAP, contrary to the expectations of democratization theories? We argue that valence considerations—specifically, perceptions of party credibility—are the main factor in the voting behavior of Singapore's electorate, and are cri…
Rematch: Islamic politics, mobilisation, and the Indonesian presidential election
Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election brings a rematch between incumbent Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, though against a backdrop of increasingly active conservative Islamic movements. Analyses of this contest – as well as of contemporary Indonesian politics more generally – are often based on assumptions around which constituencies matter and which political factions they support. This paper examines those assumptions using an original datas…
Ethnic Segregation and Public Goods: Evidence from Indonesia
This article contributes to the study of ethnic diversity and public goods provision by assessing the role of the spatial distribution of ethnic groups. Through a new theory that we callspatial interdependence, we argue that the segregation of ethnic groups can reduce or even neutralize the "diversity penalty" in public goods provision that results from ethnic fractionalization. This is because local segregation allows communities to use disparit…
Malapportionment in Myanmar’s Elections: A Slumbering Menace
Attained SCOPUS CiteScore of 1.4 in 2019.Attained Journal Citation Report (JCR) Journal Impact Factor of 0.717 in 2019.SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) 2019 for the Asiatic Region: Ranked 1st in Political Science and International Relations; 1st in History; and 3rd in Arts and Humanities.Ranked 19th by Google Scholar Metrics 2020 in the category of “Asian Studies and History”
Four arenas: Malaysia’s 2018 election, reform, and democratization
Malaysia’s 2018 election ended more than six decades of dominant party rule by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Three questions are paramount. How did the opposition finally achieve victory? What did voters who rejected UMNO actually vote for? Finally, what do the answers imply for reform and democratization? We argue that Malaysia is comprised of four distinct identity-based polities, each with a unique electoral dynamic and visio…
Singapore's Pandemic Election: Opposition Parties and Valence Politics in GE2020
Singapore's 2020 general election was held amidst the most serious public health and economic crises in the country's history. Despite expectations that these parallel crises would precipitate a flight to safety and result in a strong performance by the dominant People's Action Party (PAP), the ruling party received its third-lowest popular vote share (61.2 percent) and lowest-ever seat share (89.2 percent) since independence. This article engage…
Placebo statements in list experiments: Evidence from a face-to-face survey in Singapore
List experiments are a widely used survey technique for estimating the prevalence of socially sensitive attitudes or behaviors. Their design, however, makes them vulnerable to bias: because treatment group respondents see a greater number of items (J + 1) than control group respondents (J), the treatment group mean may be mechanically inflated due simply to the greater number of items. The few previous studies that directly examine this do not ar…
Regional identity formation in Malaysia: Primacy of the political center and its essentialized ethnic identities
Contemporary Malaysia is an amalgamation of regions with distinct historical origins and features that provide the raw material for strong regional identities. The Malay‐Muslim nature of the nation‐building project led by the dominant United Malays Nasional Organisation (UMNO) has reified regional identities by sharpening the contrast between them and Malaysia’s political center. Yet while regional identities are often pronounced, Malaysian polit…
Malaysia in 2021
Malaysia remained firmly in the grip of both the COVID-19 pandemic and economic turmoil in 2021. Ongoing political instability led to an emergency proclamation that suspended Parliament for the first time since 1969, followed by an unprecedented public rebuke of political leaders by the Malaysian king, and the third new government in as many years. This returned the long-dominant UMNO to power. An unexpected political ceasefire promised extensive…
Malaysia in 2022
Malaysia held a general election in 2022 that was expected to resolve ongoing political instability. Instead, it produced a hung parliament, reflecting a deeply divided electorate and growing support for Islamist politics. Following a royal intervention, Anwar Ibrahim’s progressive coalition formed a unity government with the long-dominant UMNO and East Malaysian parties; this unprecedented arrangement faces evolving social, political, and econom…
Voting behaviour under doubts of ballot secrecy: Reinforcing Dominant Party Rule
Ballot secrecy is a cornerstone of electoral democracy, since its real or perceived absence can make voters reluctant to express their true preferences. Through survey data from Singapore, we show that doubts over ballot secrecy can alter voting behaviour even when the vote is secret and there are no individually-targeted punishments or incentives; specifically, they lead a small subset of Singaporean voters to support the dominant party, despite…
Comparative Analysis of One Health Policies in Asia for Exploring Opportunities for British Columbia in Canada
In response to emerging challenges that intersect humans, animals, and environments, there is growing international exigent need to adopt 'One Health' approaches. While One Health efforts are emerging in British Columbia in Canada, there are still challenges to overcome in the adoption of a One Health approach in policymaking. We conducted a comparative analysis of One Health policies in Asia, specifically, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and T…
Political science (17 works) · Economics (12 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Asian Studies and History (10 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Socioeconomic Development in Asia (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Indonesian Election Politics and Participation (6 works)