Lean Daval Jr/Reuters
The people of the Philippines brought down a dictator without resorting to violence 30 years ago. But continuing disappointment with their democracy means they now support a populist president.
EPA/Francis R. Malasig
From stubborn military rule to religious ‘mobocracy’, five young democracies show signs of slipping backwards.
President-elect Donald Trump’s avowed opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership will work in China’s favour.
Jason Lee/Reuters
If Beijing can bring its neighbours to accept its regional leadership, China would have successfully achieved a dramatic reduction of US influence.
Donald Trump in New Mexico.
Carlo Allegri/Reuters
November 2, 2016
John Keane , University of Sydney ; Benjamin Moffitt , Stockholm University ; Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser , Diego Portales University ; Jan Zielonka , University of Oxford ; Takashi Inoguchi , University of Niigata Prefecture ; Thamy Pogrebinschi , WZB Berlin Social Science Center. ; Ulrike Guérot , Danube University Krems ; Wolfgang Merkel , WZB Berlin Social Science Center. , and Yu Keping , Peking University
Donald Trump is the latest example of populism’s return to the global political landscape. Nine scholars from seven countries examine the link between populism and democracy.
The ascendency of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines is just one of the shifts away from liberalism in southeast Asia.
Reuters/Lean Daval Jr
Shifts in southeast Asian countries’ political leadership has led to another worrying region-wide shift: away from liberalism.
Armed security forces take a part in a drug raid in Manila.
Damir Sagolj/Reuters
Duterte says there are three million drug users in the Philippines. There are almost certainly many fewer than that.
Duterte has, among other things, mobilised nationalist antipathy against foreign interference to deflect criticism of his violent drug crackdown.
KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / HANDOUT
Duterte used his “tough on crime” approach to win the election as a political outsider, promising to restore law and order with strongman rule. His approval rating has since soared to over 90%.
The preserved body of late former president Ferdinand Marcos lies in public view in a mausoleum in his home province in northern Philippines.
REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
The government’s decision to bury Ferdinand Marcos in the national Cemetery for Heroes illustrates the contested nature of the dictator’s legacy.
Filipinos protest after a huge bombing in Davao.
EPA/Eugenio Loreto
A major insurgency is humiliating the Filipino army and sucking in huge ransoms – but all anyone wants to talk about is Islamic State.
Duterte’s war on drugs has already resulted in more than 3,000 casualties.
REUTERS/Czar Dancel
Can Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte learn anything from Thailand’s failed campaign against drugs in the early 2000s? Maybe to adopt a less bloody and more comprehensive approach.
Iron fist: Duterte and the Philippine Air Force.
Romeo Ranoco/Reuters
The foul-mouthed, tough-talking president of the Philippines is ironically a pragmatist on foreign policy.
Jennelyn Olaires cradles the body of her partner, who was killed on a street by a vigilante group in a spate of drug-related killings in the Philippines.
Reuters/Czar Dancel
ASEAN has been silent over the blatant disregard of human lives by the Philippines and Indonesia in the name of the ‘war on drugs’.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gives the EU the finger on Sept. 20, 2016.
REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr.
President Duterte has picked fights with President Obama and with the EU. His behavior is shaking the U.S.-Philippine alliance and stability in Southeast Asia.
Insulting Barack Obama made the headlines, but Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks referred to a long and dark history of US interference in the Philippines.
Narendra Shresthma, Mast Irham/EPA
The people of the Philippines and their president know all too well the hypocrisy of being lectured by the United States about violence, human rights and democracy.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Jorge Silva/Reuters
Why would the Philippine president risk alienating an important and generous ally?
No love lost.
EPA/Narendra Shrestha/Mast Irham
Calling Barack Obama a ‘son of a whore’ was just another PR disaster for a country already subject to lazy stereotypes.
Residents of a Manila neighbourhood gather at the scene of the killing of an alleged drug dealer by police.
EPA/Francis R. Malasig
To understand Rodrigo Duterte’s rise to power and the public support for killing drug dealers and users, we need to distinguish the empirical from the normative – the ‘what is’ from ‘what should be’.
EPA/Francis R. Malasig
Feared and deplored for his slash-and-burn approach to criminal justice, Rodrigo Duterte has suddenly shown his conciliatory side.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer records 265 deaths of suspected criminals and drug users between June 30, the day Rodrigo Duterte assumed office, and July 18.
Reuters/Czar Dancel
The Philippines is seeing a surge of extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals and drug users since Rodrigo Duterte assumed office last month.
President Rodrigo Duterte talks with former president Benigno Aquino III, shown here in 2013.
Ryan Lim/Malacañang Photo Bureau
The Philippines suffers from many internal conflicts. Can the new president bring about a much-needed peace?