[7] Heydarian is also a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the country's newspaper of record, and regularly writes for the Asia Times and the South China Morning Post.

[18] As a researcher, Heydarian began as a consultant to the German think tank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Manila office, and was also the editor-in-chief of Socdem Asia, the magazine and publication outlet for the alliance of social democratic and progressive parties in the Indo-Pacific region.

[20] Heydarian is currently a senior lecturer at the UP Asian Center, where he teaches graduate courses on international affairs in Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region.

Not long after his protest column, he faced legal harassment too, including a dubious subpoena reportedly orchestrated by pro-Duterte elements in the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

[24] As a journalist and academic, Heydarian has met and/or exchanged views with leading global statesmen including Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad,[25] German Chancellor Olaf Scholz,[26] and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

[30] Following his participation at the 2025 ASEAN Economic Opinion Leaders Conference, which was hosted by Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), Heydarian argued in favor of a more proactive and coherent regional approach to a new era of great power competition.

Responding to Singaporean diplomat Kausikan Bilahari famous argument on how ASEAN is more like a “cow” than a “horse”, Heydarian has argued "the least ASEAN can do is to become a “donkey” similar to “Dapple” in Don Quixote: a tad slow and lacking flair, but impeccably sturdy and reliable.Otherwise, the regional body risks being consigned to a laughing stock among major powers and a marginal player in shaping the broader Indo-Pacific region.'

[31] In an era of great power competition, Heydarian argues, ASEAN states have engaged in "fifty shades of hedging" in order to preserve their strategic autonomy.

"[35] Nevertheless, Heydarian has argued that BRICS' continued expansion—now including Southeast Asia's largest economy, Indonesia, which is also among the world's most populous nations—indicates the (i) prestige rising powers attach to joining the new power grouping; (ii) the need to hedge against US sanctions—Vietnam has robust ties to Russia's sanctioned defense industry, while Malaysia has been a conduit for sanctioned Iranian oil—and potentially destabilizing impact of Trump policies on US dollar stability via unsustainable fiscal practices; and, more concretely, (iii) expanding bilateral currency swap deals and financial integration among major BRICS nations, with Russia de-dollarizing close to 90 percent of its trade with major powers such as India as well as establishing direct financial linkages with Iran to circumvent Western sanctions.

Accordingly, he has focused on the role of prominent leaders such as Risa Hontiveros, Leila de Lima, and Leni Robredo – and ways for unifying and mobilizing liberal-progressive and broader democratic forces in the country.

'Over the past two decades, the region has produced, against all odds, a wave of progressive-charismatic leaders, who collectively belong to the so-called “Pink Tide,' Heydarian argued.

[44] He has also co-authored and/or contributed chapters to leading academic publications and authoritative edited volumes, including "Subaltern Populism – Dutertismo and the War on Constitutional Democracy" (Cambridge University Press, 2022); Penal Populism in Emerging Markets: Human Rights and Democracy in the Age of Strongmen (Cambridge University Press, 2020);[45] as well as "Genealogy of Conflict: The roots, evolution, and trajectory of the South China Sea disputes" (Routledge, 2017);[46] "The Struggle for Centrality ASEAN, the South China Sea, and the Sino-American New Cold War?"

[50] He also contributed to prominent edited volumes, including “The WikiLeaks Fallout: Strategic Implications for the U.S.- ASEAN Relations”, in The Wikileaks Files: What the Cables Tell us about the American Empire (Verso, 2015)[51] as well as Oxford bibliographies,"Politics of the Philippines: From Rizal to Duterte" (Oxford University Press) and “The US-Philippine-China Triangle: From Equi-Balancing to Counter- Balancing amid the South China Sea Disputes” in “Regional Power Shift in the Making?

The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China, and the New Struggle for Global Mastery (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) Asia's New Battlefield: The USA, China and the Struggle for the Western Pacific (Zedbooks/Bloomsbury, 2016) How Capitalism Failed the Arab World: The Economic Roots and Precarious Future of the Middle East Uprisings (Zedbooks/Bloomsbury, 2014) "Subaltern Populism – Dutertismo and the War on Constitutional Democracy" (Cambridge University Press, 2022) "At a Strategic Crossroads: ASEAN Centrality amid Sino-American Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific" (Brookings Institution, 2021) "Penal Populism in Emerging Markets: Human Rights and Democracy in the Age of Strongmen"(Cambridge University Press, 2020); "The Shifting Sands: Duterte, the Philippines, and ASEAN’s Evolving Relations with the DPRK" (Routledge, 2024) "The Struggle for Centrality ASEAN, the South China Sea, and the Sino-American New Cold War?"