My research is concerned with the struggle for constitutionalism, and related questions about the law and politics of constitutions, courts and religion in Asia. My scholarship contributes to the fields of comparative constitutional law; law and society, and law and religion with a focus on Indonesia and Myanmar in particular.

My early research emerging from my PhD thesis focused on the judicialisation of religion in Indonesia post-1998. Later work on Indonesia expanded to a focus on the politics of court reform and the expansion of specialized courts in Indonesia, and the state of constitutional democracy in Indonesia. I also enjoyed a collaborative project working on women judges in Asia and the Pacific, and I am grateful to Chien Chih Lin for the book symposium in the International Journal of Constitutional Law which was a great surprise.

I have also explored the role of law and constitutions in Myanmar, such as how the military used constitution-making to pre-empt constitutional democracy, and how the courts have become militarised over time. This reflects my major focus recently on constitutions in authoritarian regimes. When I began this research, it was considered a marginal topic. Now, given the rise of populism, the decline of democracy and the persistence of illiberalism, authoritarianism is an issue at the front and centre of studies of constitutionalism in the Global South and Southeast Asia in particular.

During the visiting fellowship in Kyoto, I plan to write up the book I have been working on for some time. I am also working on completing an article for the Annual Review of Law & Social Science on how and why military regimes use constitutions and the law.

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