<![CDATA[This article examines why Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia respond differently to broadly similar hybrid threats from China in the South China Sea. It adopts a qualitative, most-similar-systems design and applies a neoclassical realist framework in which hybrid pressure is treated as a common systemic stimulus filtered through three domestic dimensions: elite perception, institutional capacity and integration, and state-society relations. The analysis shows that the Philippines has shifted toward denial, backed by formal alliance ties and a deliberate strategy of public transparency; Indonesia relies on diversification, combining legal firmness with diplomatic and operational choices that avoid overdependence on any single partner; and Malaysia maintains soft balancing oriented around the protection of offshore economic interests. These divergent outcomes cannot be explained by material asymmetry alone. By applying a neoclassical realist framework to these three cases, this article links hybrid coercion at sea to the domestic filters that turn similar external pressure into distinct policy paths.]]>
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