MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
MacMillan Center

Ratu Nafisah

Fox International Fellow
Fox International Fellowship, MacMillan Center
Academic Year: 2026-27
Direction: From Yale
Exchange Partner: National University of Singapore
Project Title: Law, the Militarizing Turn, and Democratic Backsliding in Asia

Ratu Durotun Nafisah earned her Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from Yale Law School in 2026. She previously worked as a Research Associate at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS), Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Ratu completed her undergraduate law degree at Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia, and an earlier LL.M at Melbourne Law School as an Australia Awards Scholar.

Ratu's research interest is in comparative constitutional law and law and society, with a particular focus on the Global South. At CALS, she contributed to the project "Judging and Social Cohesion in Asia," which looks at how judges across different Asian jurisdictions navigate issues touching on social cohesion. Her most recent publication, in the Asian Journal of Law and Society, examines the Indonesian Constitutional Court's incrementalist approach to managing division and pluralism in the case of interfaith marriage.

Ratu is interested in the broader question of how constitutions and law shape democratic life and economic power, particularly in the Global South. Her research project for the Fox Fellowship specifically examines these interactions amid the current militarizing turn and democratic backsliding across parts of Asia.