Decentralisation, intergovernmental coordination, and response to extreme events in Southeast Asia

Despite common lessons learned during the SARS pandemic in 2003, country responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia have been very diverse, with many lacking coordination among government bodies. I consider how government structure and political decentralisation shape emergency response to extreme events, focusing on two of Southeast Asia’s largest decentralised countries, Indonesia and the Philippines. I explore variation in provincial-level responses and outcomes, showing that intergovernmental coordination can augment the beneficial aspects of decentralisation in world regions where human and economic costs associated with extreme events are high.