Duterte-style Populism: The Philippines in the Geopolitical Economy of Southeast Asia

Photo: Prachatai - President Duterte showing diagram of drug trade network

Presentation by Bonn Juego, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and currently guest researcher at NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen. Comments by Nina Trige Andersen and Mark Philip Stadler.

Newly-elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been hitting the global headlines. This is mostly because of Duterte’s ‘heterodox’ yet largely ‘populist’ political style; his internationally controversial yet domestically popular ‘war on drugs’; and his sensitive ‘foreign policy choices’ that will have important implications for the geopolitical-economic position of the Philippines in particular and the whole of the ASEAN bloc at the time of intensifying rivalry between the US and China for Asian regional hegemony.

The forum will discuss emerging phenomena about present-day Philippine political economy, notably:

  1. the particularities of ‘Duterte-style populism’ that had made him win the election and continue to enjoy popular support

  2. the risks and limitations of Duterte’s ‘police-centric‘ approach to resolving the complex problems of criminality and illegal drugs

  3. the promises of ‘Dutertenomics’  whose development strategies are founded on, inter alia, a ‘law and order’ regime for the stability requirement of business operations,  ‘peace process’ with long-running armed rebel groups, the rhetoric to put an ‘end to labour contractualization’ practices, and on ‘industrialization’ plans by ushering in a ‘golden age of infrastructure’ funded by Chinese capital

  4. the likely priority areas of the Philippines under Duterte as ‘chair of the ASEAN’ at its 50th anniversary in 2017, especially as this relates to the region’s pressing issues on democratization and human rights, the ASEAN Economic Community project, and the South China Sea disputes

  5. the geopolitical implications of Duterte’s emergent foreign relations strategy that seems to  ‘Look East’ – being friendlier with China, Japan, and the ASEAN member states, while strongly critical of the US.

After Bonn Juego's presentation the two commentators Mark Philip Stadler and Nina Trige Andersen will give their input and invite questions from the audience. The presentation and comments will be in English and questions can be posed in either English, Filipino or Danish.

Bonn Juego is currently a guest researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen. Since 2014, he has been postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland specializing in global political economy and development studies. In the area of Southeast Asian Studies, his publications and research interests are in comparative political economy with expertise particularly on the Philippines, Malaysia, and the ASEAN community-building processes. With a PhD in Development and International Relations from Aalborg University, his analysis on contemporary political and economic affairs in the Philippines and Southeast Asia has been sought by a number of media organizations in Denmark such as DR’s Orientering, DR2 Udland, Information, and Ekstra Bladet.

Nina Trige Andersen is a journalist and historian focusing on East- and Southeast Asia and Northern Europe, not least transnational and translocal relations between the regions. She has written extensively on the Philippines and its diaspora for Danish and Norwegian media and journals during the last decade with particular attention to (labor) migration, social movements and political economy, and is the author of Profession: Filippiner. Kvinder på arbejde i Danmark gennem fire artier, Tiderne Skifter, 2013 (Profession: Filipina. Women at work in Denmark through four decades) about the 1960-1973 arrivals of Filipina/o workers in Denmark. She is currently working on a book (in English) about labor and economy relations between Denmark and the Philippines from the mid 20th century onwards as well as the archival project Filippinernes Danmarkshistorie (A Philippine History of Denmark), and is in the editorial board of the journal Arbejderhistorie (Workers’ History). www.lynxtext.dk

Mark Philip Stadler is a PhD fellow at the Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies and coordinator of SEASS. His research focuses on urban poor activism in Jakarta, the capital of the Republic of Indonesia, and how the activists struggle to change the rampant urban poverty problematic in a transformative way. 
Earlier this year Mark Philip Stadler took the initiative to start the Southeast Asia Signature Series (SEASS). SEASS is an open space for the exchange of knowledge about Southeast Asia.