Happy 2026

Greetings

Founded in Bangkok twenty-five years ago, the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia has established itself as a major centre of scholarship. Since its creation, IRASEC has produced a substantial body of work comprising more than 150 publications, 38 per cent of which are in English, including 21 policy briefs, 44 research notebooks and 87 monographs. These publications are complemented by a wide range of round tables, conferences and symposia. Under successive leaderships, and in close coordination with its two supervisory bodies—the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)—IRASEC has forged a strong scientific and regional identity. Today, the Institute is recognised as a leading research centre on Southeast Asia. It combines the analysis of contemporary transformations across the eleven ASEAN countries with a forward-looking approach rooted in fundamental research. This positioning enables IRASEC to connect local and national dynamics with regional and transnational processes in the Indo-Pacific, making it a key interlocutor for research, higher education, diplomacy and the media, in France and throughout the region.

Building on this legacy, the leadership of IRASEC—which I have had the honour to assume since September 2025—will carry this ambition forward in line with the current demands of research. The Institute will strengthen its core missions—fieldwork, publications and interdisciplinarity. It will also deepen cooperation with Southeast Asian partners and reinforce its contribution to major contemporary debates in the social sciences and humanities, including at the conceptual and methodological levels and through alternative forms of scholarly writing.

Southeast Asian societies demonstrate strong political, social and cultural vitality amid profound geopolitical reconfigurations, marked by intense power rivalries and the erosion of established international balances. In this context, IRASEC is strengthening its scientific partnerships with the Units of French Research Institutes Abroad (UMIFRE) in Asia, notably in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. These collective projects pool expertise and experience to analyse the circulation of populations, economies and geopolitical dynamics at the Indo-Pacific scale, while renewing analytical frameworks in one of the world’s most dynamic regions.

The relaunch of the Sudestasia newsletter forms part of this momentum. This first issue reflects the Institute’s activities, research output and ongoing collaborations, with particular attention to generational renewal among specialists of Southeast Asia.

I wish you an excellent read and extend my very best wishes for 2026.