Regional overview
Geographic concentration: Domain composition by region and country
At the onset of 2026, policy activity had only begun to pick up as legislative calendars reset. Implemented measures skewed toward short-term, reactive solutions, but a clear structural divergence separated the regions. A Fisher’s Exact Test (Monte Carlo simulation) confirmed that the divergence in domain composition was statistically significant (p- value = 0.0007999): Energy & Resources concentrated in Southeast Asia (17 actions vs. 8), while Social Protection & Welfare was major Pacific concern (15 actions vs. 5).
This regional “status quo” was disrupted in March 2026. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz triggered a major reordering of Southeast Asian priorities, sharpening the quarter’s reactive character. Energy & Resources vaulted past Industry & Technology and Governance & Public Administration, the early front-runners reflecting regular start-of-year activity, to become the region’s leading domain at 15%.
The shift, however, was not uniform across Southeast Asia. A country-level Fisher’s Exact Test (Monte Carlo simulation) returned a non-significant result (p = 0.2035), meaning that the curated dataset does not provide sufficient statistical evidence to establish a systematic relationship between country and policy-domain composition in Southeast Asian countries. Policy activity remained distributed across a diverse range of domains, even though some countries showed strong concentrations in Energy & Resources.