This paper is aimed to find the potential trends of the protectionism of countries and their independence on global economic chains in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. Securitization is a state action to increase the status of an issue into an existential threat. In accordance with the theory of securitization, since the spread of COVID-19 becomes a pandemic and threatens health security of the people, countries take part in securitization actions through the application of rules on limiting medical industry transactions, whose products are urgently needed by other countries together with the securitization of the COVID-19 pandemic issues. Thus, the authors examine the acts of securitization from case studies of three countries: Britain, France, and the United States, as samples from countries supporting neoliberal order who has done this action. So, it is known that during the pandemic, countries in the world failed to maintain their liberal economic practices. Then, weaknesses are found in the global liberal economic system, where the dependency of the production and distribution chains on one another can lead to vulnerability to unilateral termination by several involved countries which prioritize their national interests and re-implement economic nationalism.

This study discussed the background of Indonesia's non-tariff trade barrier implementation against imports of chicken legs from the United States (US) through halal certification. As WTO members, the two countries are bound by the rules and agreements of the WTO, one of which is trade liberalization related to the elimination of various kinds of trade barrier including non-tariff trade barrier such as halal certification. The application of halal certification by Indonesia to imports of chicken legs has prevented imported chicken legs from the US from entering the Indonesian market, even though they have a lower price. This study uses a mercantilism approach in the global political economy, namely the theory of non-tariff trade barrier from Thomas Oatley. The method used by the researcher was a qualitative research method with the type of case study and data collection techniques are carried out through literature study and interviews with related informants. This study concludes that there were two considerations behind the implementation of non-tariff trade barrier by Indonesia to the import of chicken legs from the US through halal certification, namely the consideration of a society-centered approach to protect public confidence, protect producers, and domestic livestock workers and considerations that are state-centered in the context of handling the economic crisis in the livestock sector and saving the state's foreign exchange expenditure.

ABSTRAK             Dorongan global terkait LGBTQ+ masih menghadapi banyak tantangan, terutama di kawasan-kawasan timur, tak terkecuali di Asia Tenggara. Kebanyakan hukum nasional mengidentifikasi penganut LGBTQ+ sebagai gangguan kejiwaan yang pantas diberi hukuman-hukuman tertentu. Fenomena ini tentu berdampak pada bagaimana masyarakat menerima kaum ini secara sosial. Menurut penelitian yang dilakukan Pew Research Center, penerimaan publik terkait gerakan LGBTQ+ telah meningkat sejak tahun 2002, bahkan di negara-negara yang dapat disebut cukup konservatif, tak terkecuali Thailand. Budaya yang menjadi aset industri, yaitu ladyboy atau wanita-pria (waria), pun menjadi indikasi penerimaan Thailand terhadap gerakan LGBTQ+. Kini, sejak tahun 2018, industri perfilman Thailand bertemakan Boys’ Love (BL) mendapatkan banyak dukungan dari para pencinta film dan drama, khususnya di negara-negara ASEAN. Dalam tulisan ini, akan dibahas mengenai perkembangan budaya BL di Thailand, yang kemudian berpotensi memunculkan dampak terhadap penerimaan publik negara-negara anggota ASEAN terkait isu LGBTQ+. Berdasarkan teori queer, budaya BL—yang kerap dipandang sebagai dampak globalisasi sosial-budaya—dapat menjadi kekuatan yang “memicu” fluiditas masyarakat dalam hal seksualitas, bahkan dalam lingkungan kultural Asia Tenggara yang dikenal konservatif. Kata Kunci: ASEAN; boys’ love; globalisasi; Thailand; queer ABSTRACT The global push related to LGBTQ+ still faces many challenges, especially in eastern regions, and Southeast Asia is no exception. Most national laws identify LGBTQ + people with a psychiatric disorder who deserve certain punishments. Such a phenomenon certainly has an impact on how society accepts these people socially. According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, public acceptance of the LGBTQ+ movement has increased since 2002, even in countries that can be described as quite conservative, Thailand is no exception. The culture which becomes an industrial asset, namely ladyboys or women-men, is also an indication of Thailand's acceptance of the LGBTQ+ movement. Since 2018, the Thai film industry with the theme Boys' Love (BL) has received a lot of support from film and drama lovers, especially in ASEAN countries. In this paper, we will discuss the development of BL culture in Thailand, which then has the potential to have an impact on public acceptance of ASEAN member countries regarding LGBTQ + issues. Based on the queer theory, BL culture - which is often seen as the impact of socio-cultural globalization - can be a force that "triggers" the fluidity of society in terms of sexuality, even in a cultural environment in Southeast Asia which is known to be conservative. Keywords: ASEAN; boys’ love; globalization; Thailand; queer