29 April 2026
The State of Social Cohesion in Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand
This report examines social cohesion across Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand using survey data from the Southeast Asian Social Cohesion Radar 2025, comparing attitudes toward diversity, religion, and the justification of violence in three Southeast Asian contexts. The comparison provides a lens to understand how cohesion unfolds in societies with similar development trajectories and majority religious populations, but differing historical legacies, nation-building experiences, and patterns of localised conflict.
The analysis shows that levels of social cohesion are moderate and more strongly rooted in social relations such as interpersonal trust than in connectedness with formal institutions. Religion remains important in daily life but does not translate into support for religious leaders to be politicians, alongside broadly positive attitudes toward diversity and a general rejection of political and religious violence. Finally, different domains of cohesion relate to attitudes toward violence in distinct ways, with stronger social relations associated with greater rejection of violence, while connectedness is linked to more conditional attitudes in the Philippines and Thailand.
Lam, T. S. (2026). The State of Social Cohesion in Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. Social Cohesion
Research Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
https://rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/The-State-of-Social-Cohesion-in-Myanmar-the-Philippines-and-
Thailand.pdf
This report examines social cohesion across Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand using survey data from the Southeast Asian Social Cohesion Radar 2025, comparing attitudes toward diversity, religion, and the justification of violence in three Southeast Asian contexts. The comparison provides a lens to understand how cohesion unfolds in societies with similar development trajectories and majority religious populations, but differing historical legacies, nation-building experiences, and patterns of localised conflict.
The analysis shows that levels of social cohesion are moderate and more strongly rooted in social relations such as interpersonal trust than in connectedness with formal institutions. Religion remains important in daily life but does not translate into support for religious leaders to be politicians, alongside broadly positive attitudes toward diversity and a general rejection of political and religious violence. Finally, different domains of cohesion relate to attitudes toward violence in distinct ways, with stronger social relations associated with greater rejection of violence, while connectedness is linked to more conditional attitudes in the Philippines and Thailand.
Research Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
https://rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/The-State-of-Social-Cohesion-in-Myanmar-the-Philippines-and-
Thailand.pdf
