POL353 Public Administration in Southeast Asia Group-Based Assignment 01, 2026, Singapore

POL353 Group-Based Assignment 01

 This Group-Based Assignment 01 is worth 20% of the final mark for POL353 Public Administration in Southeast Asia.

Due Date: 07/10/2026 11:55pm

Question 1 (100 marks)

[Slides limit: maximum 25 slides excluding bibliography; Time limit: 20-25 minutes]

A 2004 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs report on globalisation and the state identified that globalisation was creating new opportunities for states via economic liberalisation, foreign investments and capital flows, technological exchange and information flows, among others. This benefitted some states as they were able to harness globalisation for economic development but the benefits of globalisation did not reverberate equitably among all countries. Populations in many states face economic hardship, food and water insecurity, lack of access to healthcare, employment insecurity, while experiencing transnational threats like black markets, human and arms trafficking, money laundering, environmental degradation, leading to further marginalisation of the most vulnerable in society.

More than two decades later, these problems have not dissipated but have exacerbated. State capacity, understood as the ability to formulate public policies and accomplish goals, has been challenged by globalising forces.

However, all is not bleak. Rather than lament that globalisation has diminished the capacity of states to govern effectively, it may be more prudent to consider how it requires a transformation of how states and their public administration function.

Critically examine TWO Southeast Asian states to show how these states and their public administration structures have responded to the challenges brought on by the forces of globalisation. For each of your case studies, critique their policy responses and identify critical impediments to their success. Your discussion should include details on the various globalisation-driven challenges the states face and must be substantiated with empirical evidence and data to support your arguments. Your discussion must also refer to at least TWO public administration frameworks and/or concepts discussed in this course.

Assignment Requirements

• This is a group-based assignment. Canvas will randomly allocate students into groups of maximum 4 members and randomly assign a student as the group leader.
• The assignment answer has to be presented in the form of audiovisual presentation recorded via Zoom. You are therefore required to submit:
  (1) a slide deck in Powerpoint format (pptx) where each slide should have clear, well-articulated speaking points in the notes section (i.e. a transcript for that slide) (in-text citations must be included where relevant).
  ▪ Images (with credits to the original sources) and self-crafted visualisation aids (e.g. charts, tables, diagrams with credits to the original sources they have been derived from) should be included in the PowerPoint slides.
  (2) a video for the Zoom presentation recording in MP4 format.
• The slide deck should include a cover slide (indicating the course code, GBA title, student names and student PI numbers), an introduction slide, a conclusion slide and one or more bibliography slide(s), apart from slides for the assignment answer per se.
• The presentation should last 20-25 minutes with a maximum of 25 slides (excluding cover, introduction, conclusion and bibliography slides).
• Use proper APA in-text citation correctly and consistently for ALL sources, including any AI-generated text (see example below), and provide a bibliography to support your citations. Your references should include at least FIVE academic sources (books, book chapters or journal articles). Improper citations will be penalised.
• All materials sourced online (including academic journal articles, reports from agencies like World Bank etc, book chapters and articles from academic websites, among others) must include working hyperlinks.
• Note: ensure all hyperlinks, including DOI numbers, are in working order
• Your discussion must include TWO ORIGINAL VISUALISATION AIDS derived from data from Statista, United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund. OECD or any other international organisation, to support your arguments and it should complement the discussion. This chart must include a citation that reflects the specific source(s) used to derive the chart and should indicate that it is crafted by you.
• Images (with credits to the original sources) and self-crafted visualisation aids (e.g. charts, tables, diagrams with credits to the original sources they have been derived from) should be included in the PowerPoint slides
• Answers that merely regurgitate or reproduce information from any sources, including generative AI tools, will be heavily marked down. Students should refer to Section 5.2 and Section 3 of the Student Handbook. If there is ample reason to believe that the work is not entirely the student’s own, a viva voce may be held to determine authorship.