Dr Diego Fossati joined Griffith Asia Institute in October 2016 after completing his doctoral studies in political science at Cornell University and a Visiting Fellowship at ISEAS, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

His area of research is comparative politics, with an expertise in democratization, voting behavior, governance, and social policy in low and middle-income countries. His empirical focus is on the politics of Southeast Asia, and Indonesia in particular.

“I work on Southeast Asia because it is an exciting and diverse region, from which we can learn a lot about the important challenges facing young democracies everywhere. I am excited to join GAI. Here in Australia there is great interest in Indonesia and Southeast Asia as strategic partners, so I feel my research could make an impact.”

Dr Fossati is currently working on a large-scale survey project to study public opinion and voting behavior in Indonesia:

“We are collecting a range of interesting data to study how Indonesians think about crucial issues such as the role of religion in public affairs, regional autonomy, globalization and democracy. This will help us gain a better understanding of political ideologies in the world’s third largest democracy.”

He is also developing a book manuscript using his dissertation research on the politics of health in Indonesia to study the provision of social services in decentralized developing countries.

His research has appeared in international academic journals such as the European Journal of Political Research, the Journal of East Asian Studies, and World Development.

Article by Griffith Asia Institute Research Fellow Dr Diego Fossati.