to the World Bank9). Other dimensions of diversity that were prioritized when selecting countries for this overview included populations made up of diverse socio-cultural and religious groups. We also wanted to present national contexts where there are a range of governance models, ranging from ’constitutional monarchies’ to ‘democratic republics’, to unpack differences in the interplay between religion and state. Finally, we chose to look at countries they believe are ripe for investigation in terms of trends in fascisms and fundamentalisms, and that we believe deserve our urgent attention. This does not mean that other contexts in the region are not experiencing crises. The selection was made based on relevance and timeliness in activist and human rights reports and scholarly work. Therefore, for this paper these countries were selected: South Asia: Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, with some reflections regarding Myanmar and Thailand. 9 World Bank Country and Lending Groups, 2024. https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups 12