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Radical Democracy in the Time of Duterte by CRB Maboloc released



About the Book

This book took five years to write. The essays chronicle the six-year administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. It traces the historical roots, reasons, conflicts, and justification for his radical or progressive approach to politics. The author, according to Dr. Julio Teehankee, is the first to use a postmodern perspective and pose a challenge to the liberal interpretation of the rise to power of the first president from Mindanao. The ten essays tackle various facets of the issues faced by the Duterte administration – the war on drugs, peace in Mindanao, and the Covid-19 pandemic, among others. It puts together and take up the ideas of prominent political science scholars – including Julio Teehankee, Nicole Curato, Nathan Quimpo, Rey Ileto, Patricio Abinales, Karl Gaspar, Wataru Kusaka, John Sidel, Vicente Rafael, and Michael Cullinane.

The heart of this work rests in the theory of Chantal Mouffe, who says that politics cannot be based on agreement but contestation. Radical democracy is rooted in the idea of agonism, which means that struggle is something that is inherent to politics, and not consensus. Inequalities are not just a matter of economic gap, but of the relations of power, and for this reason, rectifying the age-old injustices require moving beyond mere formalities into the more substantive approach as to the meaning of social justice. The author has examined the root of this hegemony and contestation in Philippine history, one that is promulgated by the birth of Ilustrado politics and executed by the elite in society by means of a patronage system. President Duterte stood into the limelight by bringing into national consciousness the exclusion of Mindanao.

Unlike his predecessor, President Duterte faced and fought the powerful oligarchy and offered Filipinos solutions beyond the superficiality of the country’s past national leaders. President Duterte showed the world what it means to have political will – his pivot to China, the rehabilitation of Boracay, his tough stance against criminality, and his hardline approach against oligarchs who have short-changed the country. But the strategy of the President is not without its critics. Human rights groups and the leaders of the Catholic Church in the Philippines have condemned his war on drugs, civil society wasted no time pounding on Congress for its decision not to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN, and the opposition, months before the 2022 National Elections, hurled allegations of corruption against the administration on its pandemic response.

But the President remained unperturbed, defiant as ever, and will actually vow out from office on June 30, 2022, with the highest trust rating for an outgoing chief executive in the country’s history. The election of Bongbong Marcos, the author contends, is also widely due to the marriage between the House of Marcos and House of Duterte, the latter cementing the return to power of a Marcos. This work is a product of personal reflection, empirical observation, and an analysis of the major works in Philippine politics and history, including the critical position and writings of authors who are stationed in the capital. This collection provides the reader with a viewpoint from someone who comes from and lives in Davao City, and who for a long time has had first-hand knowledge of small-town politics.

Praise for Radical Democracy in the Time of Duterte 

“Political leaders may disrupt the hegemony of liberal democracy but cannot achieve radical democracy alone. It is ultimately up to us if we can uphold agonism by appreciating the ideas and moralities of conflicting others. I guarantee this book provides rich wisdom and food for thought for Filipinos to advance radical democracy.”

–– Dr. Wataru Kusaka, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

“With carefully and deeply structured chapters, this book successfully tells us what we should consider in understanding democracy in the Philippines. In analyzing democracy, it delves into the socio-political background and the colonial legacy of the past that have made possible a radical figure to rise to power.”

–– Dr. Juichiro Tanabe, Waseda University, Tokyo

“I should not miss to highlight the fact that Prof. Maboloc offers a fresh look at contemporary Philippine politics through the lens of Chantal Mouffe’s notion of radical politics. I must also say that Prof. Maboloc elegantly framed his arguments to the point that if readers bracket their biases, they can hardly contend with the former’s take on Duterte’s brand of politics.”

–– Dr. Jeffry Ocay, Eastern Visayas State University

About the Author

Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc is an Associate Professor at the Ateneo de Davao University and a Visiting Professor for Global Justice at the American University of Sovereign Nations. He received a research grant for his project Radical Democracy in the Time of Duterte from Ateneo de Davao University in 2017. He presented his research at the Philippine Politics and Culture Conference in Nagoya University in 2018. A Scholarum Awards Nominee for Best Newspaper Column, he has written more than 100 social and political commentaries for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He was awarded the Public Intellectual Prize by the Philosophical Association of the Philippines in 2020.


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