This is a book for an extraordinary time, about a pandemic for which there is no modern precedent. It is an edited collection of original essays on Asia's legal and policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, which, in a matter of months, swept around the globe, infecting millions. It transformed daily life in almost every corner of the planet: lockdowns of cities and entire countries, physical distancing and quarantines, travel restrictions and border controls, movement-tracking technology, mandatory closures of all but essential services, economic devastation and mass unemployment, and government assistance programs on record-breaking scales. Yet a pandemic on this scale, under contemporary conditions of globalization, has left governments and their advisors scrambling to improvise solutions, often themselves unprecedented in modern times, such as the initial lockdown of Wuhan.
This collection of essays analyzes law and policy responses across Asia, identifying cross-cutting themes and challenges. It taps the collective knowledge of an interdisciplinary team of sixty-one researchers both in the service of policy development, and with the goal of establishing a scholarly baseline for research after the storm has passed. The collection begins with an epidemiological overview and survey of the law and policy themes. The jurisdiction-specific case studies and cross-cutting thematic essays cover five topics: first wave containment measures; emergency powers; technology, science, and expertise; politics, religion, and governance; and economy, climate, and sustainability.
Contributors:
Susan Breau, Professor of Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Louise Burrows, Policy Adviser - Coal to Clean Transition, E3G
Philip Calvert, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
Wen-Chen Chang, Dean and Professor, School of Law, National Chao Tung University and Professor, College of Law, National Taiwan University
Tan Cheng-Han, Dean and Chair Professor of Commercial Law, City University of Hong Kong
Daisy Cheung, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong; Deputy Director and Teaching Faculty, Centre for
Medical Ethics and Law, University of Hong Kong
Lynette J. Chua, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Yale-NUS College, National University of Singapore
Sunghee Chung, Lecturer, Korean Program, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dan Ciuriak, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Tony Clear, Associate Professor, Software Engineering Research Lab, Auckland University of Technology
Daniela Damian, Professor of Software Engineering, Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria
Maartje De Visser, Associate Professor, School of Law, Singapore Management University
Nima Dorji, Senior Lecturer, JSW School of Law
Michelle Dy, Global Affairs and Government Relations Manager, AirAsia Group
Bhavani Fonseka, Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives (Sri Lanka)
Luwie Ganeshathasan, Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives (Sri Lanka)
Namitha George, PhD student, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria
Nurussyariah Hammado, Senior Lecturer, Universitas Negeri Makassar
Christian Hofmann, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore
Por Heong Hong, Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Vandanet Hing, Researcher and Lecturer, Center for the Study of Humanitarian Law, Royal University of Law and Economics
Nadirsyah Hosen, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Tilak Jayatilake, Associate Director, Inter-Collegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) Program
Mendee Jargalsaikhan, Post-Graduate Research Scholar, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Vancouver, Canada
Charles Krusekopf, Professor, School of Business, Royal Roads University
Helen Lansdowne, Associate Director, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
James Lawson, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science & Director, Human Dimensions of Climate Change, University of Victoria
Darius Lee, Junior Researcher, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore
Jack Jin Gary Lee, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and Legal Studies, Kenyon College
Sujin Lee, Assistant Professor, Department of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria
Rawin Leelapatana, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University
Chun-Yuan Lin, Associate Professor, School of Law, Department of Financial and Economic Law, Chung Yuan Christian University
Matthew Little, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria
Qian Liu, Associate, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
Preethi Lolaksha Nagaveni, PhD Candidate, Lancaster University
Ratana Ly, PhD candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Shigenori Matsui, Professor, Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia
Tun Myint, Consulting Epidemiologist, Vancouver, Canada
Jaclyn L. Neo, Associate Professor & Director, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore
Cuong Nguyen, Director, Institute of Legal Science (Vietnam)
Tomoya Ono, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, Economics, and Humanities, Kagoshima University
Kai Ostwald, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy & Global Affairs, University of British Columbia
Thanh Phan, Associate, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
Visakha Phusamruat, Lecturer, Graduate School of Law, National Institute of Development Administration
Victor V. Ramraj, Chair in Asia-Pacific Legal Relations and Professor of Law, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives and Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Benjamin Schonthal, Associate Professor of Buddhism and Asian Religions, University of Otago
Ze Shi Li, PhD Student, Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria
Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, Senior Lecturer in Climate Law, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh
Kimsan Soy, Director, Centre for the Study of Humanitarian Law, Royal University of Law and Economics
Paulin Straughan, Professor of Sociology (Practice), Singapore Management University
Chompunoot Tangthavorn, Senior Research Fellow, Parliamentary Academic Support Office, King Prajadhipok's Institute
Azmil Tayeb, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Arun K. Thiruvengadam, Professor of Law, School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University
Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Victoria
Sonam Tshering, Senior Lecturer, JSW School of Law, Bhutan
Jiangyu Wang, Professor, School of Law, City University of Hong Kong
Asanga Welikala, Lecturer in Public Law and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law, School of Law, University of Edinburgh
Calvin W.L. Ho, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong; Teaching Faculty, Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, University of Hong Kong
Jae Woon Lee, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Guoguang Wu, Professor of Political Science and History, and China Chair at Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
Feng Xu, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria
