DLSU - Department of Political Science and Development Studies

Jovito Katigbak, faculty member of the Department of Political Science and Development Studies (DPSDS), recently published entries in Elsevier's Reference Module in Social Sciences (2024).

Access it here:

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-13701-3.00247-4

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-13701-3.00246-2

Dr. Joseph Velasco recently co-authored an article titled "Navigating the Indo-Pacific: Vietnam's Hedging Strategies Amid the Geopolitical Rivalry Between China and the United States," which was published in Asian Perspective.

Access it here: https://doi.org/10.1353/apr.2024.a919883

The Department of Political Science and Development Studies recently conducted its annual workshop, which focused on improving program offerings, curriculum revisions, among other things.

Mr. Jovito Katigbak, a faculty member of the Department of Political Science and Development Studies (DPSDS), published an article titled "China's Climate Change Policy Post-Kyoto (2009-2015): Applying the Bureaucratic Politics Approach" in Interdisciplinary Political Studies.

Article Full Text: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/idps/article/view/27512/23800?fbclid=IwY2xjawEW1d9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHan-ka5reZfGuTPwwXBXpUmBETg3BWa2-KsoRcTuS6338CV0-SlQi-Q9dQ_aem_sz4Yghxdp534cvJmUqJ86Q

[PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT]

Last July 11, 2024, members of the DLSU - Department of Political Science and Development Studies attended the 46th Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) [the highest recognition and scientific advisory body of the Philippines under the Department of Science and Technology].

During this event, Professors Julio Teehankee and Cleo Anne Calimbahin received an Outstanding Book Award for Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Competition in Local Elections. Along with them, Dr. Anthony Lawrence Borja received an Outstanding Scientific Paper Award for his article entitled Political Illiberalism in the Philippines: Analyzing Illiberal Political Values.

Links to their respective award wining works are below:

Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Competition in Local Elections: https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/e-book-patronage-democracy-philippines-clans-clients-and-competition-local-elections

Political Illiberalism in the Philippines: Analyzing Illiberal Political Values:https://www.dlsu.edu.ph/.../2023-march-vol23-1/ra-5.pdf

[POLSCI Speaks]

The POLSCI Speaks Series returns with a public lecture by Dr. Liam Gammon (Australian National University) entitled "Youth Bulges, Economic Inclusion and Democratic Legitimacy in Southeast Asia" on July 11, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM (Venue: Yuchengco Hall Y507-509).

Other than being visiting researcher for the DLSU-Department of Political Science and Development Studies, Liam Gammon is also a Research Fellow at the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, Australian National University (ANU). His research and teaching focus on the contemporary politics of Asia, especially Indonesia. He is the editor of New Mandala, the ANU-based Southeast Asian studies website, and is member of the editorial board of East Asia Forum.

ABSTRACT: Throughout the world, young people are playing a key role in boosting anti-establishment politics, and surveys show decreasing satisfaction with democracy among young people in a range of democracies. Attention has naturally focused on whether young people’s anxieties about their economic prospects are contributing to democratic deconsolidation. Yet East Asia has been notably immune to this pattern, with surveys showing strong support for and satisfaction with democracy across generations. At one glace this appears to be a good thing for democratic consolidation. But there is evidence that this dynamic also pertains in two major Southeast Asian democracies that have experienced significant democratic backsliding in recent years—Indonesia and the Philippines. This suggests the need to dig deeper into what idea democratic ideals, exactly, are allowing young people to express high satisfaction with the regime status quo. In this talk I contextualize the Indonesian and Philippine cases within the global literature on generational differences in democratic attitudes in post-authoritarian contexts, and introduces the research project I am conducting in both countries that seeks to contribute to this literature. Using both existing and original survey data, I seek to examine the extent to which young people hold economic-based conceptions of democracy that render their support for democracy sensitive to fulfillment of economic expectations, in ways that limit the possibility of the youngest generations of voters to emerge as a cohort of ‘critical democrats’ who support democracy as an ideal while remaining alert to its shortcomings in practice.

[PUBLIC LECTURE]

Last June 28, 2024, Professor Eric Batalla, together with the DLSU-Political Science Society (POLISCY) conducted a public lecture on his paper entitled, "Traditional Palm-based Distillates, H***h, and Hard Liquor in the Philippines," co-authored with Dr. Lars Ubaldo.

The chapter will be on the forthcoming publication of Chapter 6 of the book, "H***h and Hard Liquor in East Asia: A Political Economy", edited by Paul Chambers and Nithi Nuangiamnong.

Extract:
"This comprehensive study explores the production, consumption, and regulation of traditional palm-based distillates and other hard liquors in the Philippines. The paper delves into the cultural and historical context of Filipino alcohol consumption, examines various traditional alcoholic beverages, and traces the historical evolution of commercial-scale liquor production from the Spanish colonial period to modern times. Additionally, it addresses contemporary issues such as methanol poisoning, regulatory responses, and the importance of adhering to proper production methods."

[ACTIVITY]

The Department of Political Science and Development Studies (DPDS) and the DLSU-Political Science Society (POLISCY) hosted a roundtable discussion on Filipino and Indonesian Politics last June 8, 2024. The event featured esteemed guests Dr. Yosef M. Djakababa, Dr. Amelia J. Liwe, Firman Lung, and Jessika Ami Arifin from the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH). It was also attended by our political science students, members of the faculty, and Dr. Liam Gammon from the Australian National University (ANU).

[ACTIVITY]

Together with the DLSU-Political Science Society (POLISCY) and the DLSU-Development Initiative (DEVINT), the Department of Political Science and Development Studies (DPSDS) conducted The Greening Breakout Session last May 25, 2024.

With Dionessa Bustamante as moderator, Dr. Anthony Lawrence Borja, Dr. Susan Kurdli, and Topin Ruiz presented the basic contents of the department's undergraduate programs, faculty rosters, thesis and practicum setups, and majors and minors offerings, among others to prospective political science and development studies students.

Future Lasallians also engaged with POLISCY and DEVINT through their student leaders, namely, Lance Mendoza of POLISCY and Matt Nolasco of DEVINT. They shared their respective organization's background, initiatives, and engagements while addressing questions on personal, academic, and extracurricular experiences while venturing into the life of a student of their respective disciplines.

The DLSU - Department of Political Science and Development Studies welcomes our visiting researcher Dr. Liam Gammon from the Austrialian National University (ANU).

He is a Research Fellow at the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, Australian National University (ANU) whose research and teaching focuses on the contemporary politics of Asia, especially Indonesia. He is the editor of New Mandala, the ANU-based Southeast Asian studies website, and is member of the editorial board of East Asia Forum. He received his PhD from the ANU in 2022 for a thesis on how electoral rules moderate the impact of populism on the systemic role of political parties in Indonesia. In 2024 Liam was awarded a Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership Program Research Fellowship to a project examining how education and aspirations shape young voters’ democratic beliefs in the Philippines and Indonesia.

The DLSU - Department of Political Science and Development Studies congratulates Dr. Anthony Lawrence Borja for winning the 2024 Outstanding Scientific Paper Award of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) for Political Illiberalism in the Philippines: Analyzing Illiberal Political Values.
https://www.dlsu.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/pdf/research/journals/apssr/2023-march-vol23-1/ra-5.pdf

Abstract: Politicians are empowered as representatives of varying visions of the public good. If inquiries are made on why disruptive actors can ascend to high positions of political and moral authority, then due focus must be given on their psychopolitical roots. Through quantitative analysis and by reverse engineering the concept of political illiberalism from recent normative theories of political liberalism, this study illustrates that political illiberalism in the Philippines is a political value system characterized by (1) support for liberal institutions qualified in favor of political leadership and (2) political intolerance. These tendencies form the psychopolitical base of disciplinarian and leader-centric tendencies that have been observed in recent studies. Moreover, in order to show that this is a sustained tendency, this study utilizes the fourth and fifth waves of the Asia Barometer Survey. Overall, many Filipinos want liberal institutions like the rule of law and representative politics to exist alongside strong leaders and political exclusion.

The DLSU - Department of Political Science and Development Studies congratulates Professors Julio Teehankee and Cleo Calimbahin for winning the 2024 Outstanding Book Award of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) for Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Competition in Local Elections.

https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/e-book-patronage-democracy-philippines-clans-clients-and-competition-local-elections

Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Competition in Local Elections demonstrates the persistence of political patronage in local power relations and electoral dynamics in the Philippines. Through ten case studies of political contests in various parts of the country during the 2016 and 2019 elections, it documents how patronage takes different forms and flows through clientelistic and clan networks that are very much alive in local politics. The case studies—covering the provinces of Isabela, Camarines Sur, Cebu, Iloilo, and Lanao del Norte, and the cities of Manila, Makati, Caloocan, Cebu, and Bacolod—also provide nuanced understandings of how patronage is strategically dispensed and transformed, especially across distinctive yet changing local political contexts. It is hoped that the volume, by mapping the shifts in patronage-driven electoral politics in the country, informs future engagements and reflections on genuine democratic reforms.