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81. Searching for COVID-19 Ceasefires: Conflict Zone Impacts, Needs, and Opportunities

Author:
Tyler Jess Thompson
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
On March 23, 2020, as COVID-19 was first appearing in many conflict-affected areas, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued a call for warring parties to cease hostilities and instead wage battle against the pandemic. Drawing on an examination of conflicts in Afghanistan, Colombia, Cameroon, Israel and Palestine, Libya, the Philippines, Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere—this report looks at how COVID-19 has affected conflict parties’ interests, positions, and capacities, and provides recommendation for how the international community leverage the pandemic to promote peace.
Topic:
United Nations, Conflict, Peace, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, Libya, Philippines, Colombia, Palestine, Syria, Cameroon, and Global Focus

82. The Challenges Facing the Philippines’ Bangsamoro Autonomous Region at One Year

Author:
Zachary Abuza and Luke Lischin
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Just over a year ago, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was formally established as part of a peace agreement to end nearly five decades of conflict between the Philippine government and Moro secessionists. This report discusses the many notable achievements of the BARMM government during its first year while cautioning that these accomplishments are not irreversible, and that the BARMM will need international support—including from the United States—to confront future challenges.
Topic:
Government, Separatism, Peace, and Autonomy
Political Geography:
Philippines and United States of America

83. Arbitration as a Means to Settle Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea: Case Study and History of China and The Philippines

Author:
Monika Chansoria
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
South China Sea’s territorial disputes gained the spotlight yet again with the April 18, 2020 announcement1 by China’s State Council, through which, it approved setting up ‘two new’ municipal districts (dependencies of the southernmost Sansha city, in the Hainan province) covering the South China Sea – namely the ‘Xisha District’ and ‘Nansha District’. Home to an estimated 11 billion barrels of untapped oil, and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea possess rich natural resources and fishing areas. The Fiery Cross Reef will be in charge of the administration of the islands, reefs, and sea areas of the Spratly Islands.2 The Fiery Cross Reef used to be an underwater reef that was converted into an artificial island following massive land reclamation undertaken by China. This reef was virtually untouched by manmade structures until March 2014 and was transformed into an artificial island in the span of one year by March 2015. Furthermore, the Woody Island will be in charge of the administration of the islands, reef, and sea areas of the Paracel Islands.3 China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Natural Resources has released the longitudes, latitudes, and standardized names of 25 islands and reefs and 55 undersea geographic entities in the disputed South China Sea. The listed islands include Sanzhizai – an islet north of the Woody Island in Sansha city in South China’s Hainan Province.
Topic:
Territorial Disputes, Geopolitics, and Arbitration
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Philippines, and South China Sea

84. The Philippine Revolution constructs ‘Asia’ and Civilization from the periphery

Author:
Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Toynbee Prize Foundation
Abstract:
Filipinos, on the whole, are famously pro-American. In 2014, the Philippines topped the Global Attitudes Survey with regard to global public approval of the United States, coming in with a ninety two percent favorability rating. In 2013, a higher percentage of surveyed Filipinos held America favorably and had confidence in the US President, including the former president George W. Bush, than Americans themselves held and had. The entrenched, orthodox Philippine narrative of the Second World War presents the Japanese occupation of the islands as a Dark Age shattering the golden period of American colonial peace, prosperity, and tutelage toward independence. Reynaldo C. Ileto wrote that Pres. Sergio Osmeña “spoke of Douglas MacArthur’s return as a repetition of his father Arthur’s arrival in 1898 to free the Philippines from Spain,” and that Pres. Elpidio Quirino asked Filipinos “[w]hat was the ‘Death March’. . . if not the common pasyon or Christ-like suffering and death, of Filipinos and Americans?” Yet not all Filipinos viewed Douglas MacArthur’s fulfilled promise in 1945 as the redemptive return of their liberating savior. Though they were a minority, it is nevertheless worth exploring those narratives—and asking how they came to be a minority.
Topic:
Imperialism, Post Colonialism, Colonialism, Empire, and Independence
Political Geography:
Philippines and Southeast Asia

85. Southern Philippines: Tackling Clan Politics in the Bangsamoro

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Elections in 2022 will bring an autonomous regional government to the Bangsamoro, a part of the southern Philippines long riven by rebellion. To prepare for the 2014 peace deal’s last test, the area’s interim self-rule entity needs to accommodate the big families that dominate its politics. What’s new? One year after taking office, following a landmark peace agreement, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority is trying to set the stage for regional stability and durable peace in Muslim Mindanao. In doing so, it needs to deal with powerful political clans that may provoke tensions in the run-up to 2022 elections. Why does it matter? Clans are predominant in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region’s politics, which could lead to tensions with the new authority. Confrontations among armed families could reverse peace process gains, as could a falling-out between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the former rebel group, and clans if the transition goes awry. What should be done? The Bangsamoro transitional government should create a strong regional institution that is pragmatic in finding arrangements with political families and capable of curbing inter-clan feuding as well as overcoming clan-linked patronage networks. Donors should support efforts to ensure the state’s primacy over kinship interests through a broad funding portfolio.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Conflict, Peace, and Autonomy
Political Geography:
Philippines and Asia-Pacific

86. A Search for Independence in President Duterte’s Foreign Policy

Author:
Denise Layla P. Miram
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
The Duterte administraƟon’s move toward favoring non‐tradiƟonal partners above other equally valuable— and perhaps more beneficial—trade and development partners, such as the United States and the European Union, has significantly changed the direcƟon of the country’s foreign policy and impacted its naƟonal security. While the government maintains that it is pursuing an “independent foreign policy”, many experts have criƟcized the administraƟon’s supposed strategy for its lack of clarity and posiƟon. In the absence of clear guidelines and a well‐defined vision, the administraƟon has merely pivoted away from one superpower, its treaty ally in the US, to global superpowers China and Russia.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Foreign Direct Investment, European Union, Trade, and Rodrigo Duterte
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Philippines, Asia-Pacific, and United States of America

87. Philippine Diplomacy and Foreign Policy: “Quo Vadis?”

Author:
Reiñer Subijano
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
In the last week of July, 2020, an “online war” arose between Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin, Jr. and Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein over a simple tweet from the U.S. Embassy in Manila, regarding a donation from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to returning Filipino repatriates “from Sabah, Malaysia.” The tweet sparked an enraged response from Secretary Locsin, who replied that “Sabah is not in Malaysia if you want to have anything to do with the Philippines.” Two days later, Minister Hussein tweeted that “Sabah is, and will always be, part of Malaysia”, qualifying Secretary Locsin’s tweet as an “irresponsible statement that affects bilateral ties.” While the two parties have summoned each other’s representatives for an explanation on the matter, the case of Sabah raises fundamental questions about the direction of the country’s foreign policies.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Philippines, Asia-Pacific, and United States of America

88. Human Rights: An Uprising Volume XXI, Number 2

Author:
Sushant Naidu, Mahmood Monshipouri, Jodie G. Roure, David T. Johnson, Randolph B. Persaud, Jackson Yoder, Debra L. DeLaet, Nicholas McMurry, Kathleen Mahoney, and Morten Koch Andersen
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
For centuries, protests have been used to mobilize citizenry in efforts to bring about sweeping change in different parts of the world. Protestors have protested to convey their discontent, to demand a moral response, and to speak truth to power. In 2010, antigovernment protests in Egypt inspired similar uprisings in other Arab countries, which became known as the Arab Spring. This year, the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have led people in the US and across the world to march against racism and police brutality. Despite a global pandemic, thousands have taken to the streets to demand justice for Black lives, demonstrating that the principle of equality, a common moral good, is worth risking both health and life. “Human Rights: An Uprising,” the second issue of our twenty-first volume, sheds light not only on the right to protest itself, but the human rights that have inspired them. Mahmood Monshipouri explores the variations and similarities in contemporary protest while discussing the Black Lives Matter movement. Joudie Roure addresses gender-based violence and LGBTQI rights in Puerto Rico, especially the murder of trans women. Debra DeLaet explains the importance of soft law approaches in making progress toward the realization of gender-based human rights and LGBTQI rights. Randolph Persaud and Jackson Yoder apply the concept of homo sacer to examine differential rights within two key areas: migrants/refugees/asylum seekers in Europe and the effects of COVID-19 on African Americans in the US. Nicholas McMurry argues that the right to be heard is developing in human rights law as expounded in the practice of the UN treaty bodies. Kathleen Mahoney discusses Indigenous rights in Canada. Morten Andersen argues that an investigation of the relationship between corruption and human rights is best viewed as a framework of socially constructed norms, political power, and the complex interrelation of political, legal, economic, and social systems. Finally, David Johnson writes about the origins, causes, and contemporary implications of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. This issue sheds light on the strata of protests and human rights. It further affirms the growing political salience of human rights and the power of social movements to overcome the tyranny of exclusion, greed, and special interests which have always undermined them.
Topic:
Corruption, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Migration, Natural Disasters, Women, Protests, Violence, LGBT+, Crisis Management, Indigenous, COVID-19, and Biopolitics
Political Geography:
Philippines, Asia-Pacific, and Global Focus

89. Political Polarization in South and Southeast Asia: Old Divisions, New Dangers

Author:
Thomas Carothers and Andrew O'Donohue
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Political polarization is growing in South and Southeast Asia—one part of a troubling global trend. From long-established democracies like India to newer ones like Indonesia, deep-seated sociopolitical divisions have become increasingly inflamed in recent years, fueling democratic erosion and societal discord. New political and economic strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic are only reinforcing this worrisome trend. This report focuses on six key countries: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Behind the tremendous diversity of these cases lie illuminating commonalities, alongside revealing differences, in the roots, trajectories, drivers, and consequences of polarization, as well as in the attempted remedies different actors have pursued.
Topic:
Politics, Governance, Culture, Reform, Democracy, Polarization, and Society
Political Geography:
South Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Southeast Asia

90. Migrant Domestic Workers: Their COVID-19 Burdens

Author:
Margareth Sembiring
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Migrant workers, especially those doing domestic work, cannot be ignored in the fight against COVID-19. The measures taken to contain the virus spread have left them even more vulnerable. But this may be an opportunity for a fresh look at providing for their protection.
Topic:
Pandemic, COVID-19, and Migrant Workers
Political Geography:
Philippines, Hong Kong, and Global Focus