The killing of political opponents is an established practice in the Philippines, to which severa... more The killing of political opponents is an established practice in the Philippines, to which several dozen officeholders fall victim each year and which undermines democracy. In this report, Peter Kreuzer presents a detailed data set on this type of violence and answers the questions why the practice is so widespread and why it hardly ever provokes public debate. The analysis focuses on the peace covenant, a central means of symbolic politics to contain violence, but one that unintentionally naturalizes it
verschärfte sich in den letzten Jahren der Konflikt zwischen der Volksrepublik (VR) China und ins... more verschärfte sich in den letzten Jahren der Konflikt zwischen der Volksrepublik (VR) China und insbesondere den Philippinen, aber auch den anderen Staaten, die Ansprüche auf Territorien und Souveränitätsrechte innerhalb weitreichender ausschließlicher Wirtschaftszonen (AWZ) beanspruchen. China scheint in den letzten Jahren zunehmend darauf zu setzen, durch aggressives Handeln vor Ort Fakten zu schaffen und die anderen Anspruchsteller aus der Region zu verdrängen. Gegen die chinesische Position erhebt sich verschärfter Widerstand. Am prominentesten wurde dieser durch die philippinische Entscheidung von 2013 sichtbar, ein Schiedsverfahren vor dem Ständigen Schiedshof in Den Haag anzustrengen, das im Wesentlichen darauf abzielte, die chinesischen Ansprüche als unrechtmäßig zu entlarven und China als aggressive Macht bloßzustellen.
DESCRIPTION This study compares the Malaysian and Philippine reaction to China's South China ... more DESCRIPTION This study compares the Malaysian and Philippine reaction to China's South China Sea policy. It sets out in the late 1980s and continues to the present. It argues that China's opponents do have various options for influencing Chinese conflict behavior. The general argument is that Chinese perceptions and behavior are dependent on the opponent’s prior publicly voiced perceptions of and actions towards China. Specifically it is argued that by signaling respect to China and creating a "we-group" based on shared values and aspirations, China's opponents in the maritime and territorial conflict can moderate Chinese conflict behavior. Chinese preoccupation with gaining face provides China’s opponents with windows of opportunity for trading respect for China’s face for Chinese restraint in disputes. Given the extremely high costs of coercion in asserting territorial claims, it is argued that in their quest for upholding domestic legitimacy Chinese elites w...
Das Buch vergleicht drei multiethnische Gesellschaften Süd- und Südostasiens - die Philippinen, S... more Das Buch vergleicht drei multiethnische Gesellschaften Süd- und Südostasiens - die Philippinen, Sri Lanka und Malaysia - in Bezug auf deren Fähigkeit, interethnische Konflikte gewaltarm zu bearbeiten. Gezeigt wird, dass weder Multiethnizität Gewalt befördert, noch dass eine demokratische Regierungsform als Allheilmittel zur Zivilisierung des interethnischen Konfliktaustrags gelten kann. Vielmehr kommt dem Faktor Kultur eine zentrale Rolle sowohl für die Wege in die Gewalt als auch für deren Vermeidung zu. Ethnizität und politische Institutionen können in Abhängigkeit von kulturellen Mustern sowohl konfliktverschärfend als auch -zivilisierend wirken.
In terms of the stress on reforming the local social order, it should also not be misunderstood t... more In terms of the stress on reforming the local social order, it should also not be misunderstood that the political conflict between the Muslims and the Philippine state can be treated as an appendix. It likewise demands committed action. Unfortunately, despite its advantageous position, it appears that the new government lacks commitment. It is a sad fact that the problem of the Muslims in southern Philippines is only prominent on the national political level while the guerrillas are building a strong backdrop of threats supported by the selective use of violence. When such a backdrop is not there, the problem is happily ignored. 2 This ahistoric perspective is particularly prominent in the works of David Collier and the World Bankcentred working group led by him. The analyses of these scientists concentrate almost exclusively on the comparison between plausibility and greed-and grievance-based violence (see e.g.
This article provides a detailed analysis of pre-Duterte and Duterte police use of deadly force i... more This article provides a detailed analysis of pre-Duterte and Duterte police use of deadly force in the Philippines. It first develops a set of indicators that allow for assessing the magnitude of police use of deadly force in “armed encounters”, its relation to the threat environments in which the police operate, and the lethality of such violence. Then, based on a self-developed dataset for the pre-Duterte decade and the ABS-CBN dataset on Duterte period police killings, it establishes the past and current patterns of police use of deadly force. The analysis shows that in the past decade as under Duterte inter-provincial spatial and temporal variation of police use of deadly force has been very high. Differences in the threat environment play only a minor role in explaining this variation. Differences in sub-national units’ reactions to the Duterte campaign mirror those in police use of deadly force during the earlier decade, signaling strong path-dependency. Lethality-levels have ...
This report deals with domination in three different regions in the Philippines: the two province... more This report deals with domination in three different regions in the Philippines: the two provinces of Pampanga and Negros Occidental, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Domination in the Philippines has been analysed under various headings, from patron-client relations to patrimonialism, oligarchy, bossism and principalia-rule. While there are certain differences, the various broadly used concepts coalesce around an understanding that posits a fusion of wealth and political power as well as a political process that is characterised by clientelism, crime and coercion exerted by elected politicians. Yet despite significant consensus with respect to the empirical representations of Philippine politics, no model has emerged up to the present that integrates all four core dimensions of oligarchy, patronage, corruption and illegal business, and violence. This report proposes a model that differentiates between the structural viewpointwhich focuses on the predominance of an oligarchic elite-and the process modelwhich describes domination as a specific way of doing politics Mafia-style. From the outset, one must bear in mind that Mafia-style domination does not presuppose the existence of a Mafia-type organisation but rather refers to a specific way of exerting and upholding power. As Henner Hess, one of the foremost researchers on the Mafia, has argued, this is a "method for the consolidation of ruling positions" (Hess 1998: 6). Understood in such a way, Mafia can "in principle […] be applied to any power phenomena functioning analogously in other cultures" (Hess 1998: 175). In the final analysis, fundamental change depends on the ballot box and will not be forthcoming as long as proponents of the status quo continue to be re-elected by an electorate that expects governance through clientelist exchange relationships. 6. Conclusion 6.1 Mafia-style domination: Variations of a common theme 6.2 Thinking about change Bibliography 1 In the report, many of the details on individual cases had to be omitted. For the case studies see: Kreuzer 2011a, 2011b, 2012. For a study on Mafia-style politics in the Philippines that largely focuses on other regions see Kreuzer 2009. The present study is based on extensive literature surveys in European and Philippine libraries and extended fieldwork in the years 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011. The interviewees comprise a broad array of political actors, from local level politicians to state administrators (e.g. members of the police or the Human Rights Commission), NGO workers, church representatives and members of the media).
At the beginning of the 21st century, ethnic or racial conflicts proliferate in the world. As soo... more At the beginning of the 21st century, ethnic or racial conflicts proliferate in the world. As soon as some conflicts seem to be resolved, new ones break out. Many conflicts resurface each time some kind of path to peace seems to be forged. The conflicts between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil Tigers, the conflict between the Philippines and the Muslim insurgents in Mindanao are but two prominent cases in point. Most of such cases are characterised by constant efforts at resolution, by intermittent negotiations, interspersed with renewed violence, and cycles of military escalation and de-escalation. Based on a comparison of three cases (the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Malaysia), we argue that, in order to understand the driving forces of inter-ethnic violence, it is vitally important to reflect on the development and uses of the politically salient collective identities as well as on their interplay in the debate and struggle over the definition of state and nation. Not only the wa...
The killing of political opponents is an established practice in the Philippines, to which severa... more The killing of political opponents is an established practice in the Philippines, to which several dozen officeholders fall victim each year and which undermines democracy. In this report, Peter Kreuzer presents a detailed data set on this type of violence and answers the questions why the practice is so widespread and why it hardly ever provokes public debate. The analysis focuses on the peace covenant, a central means of symbolic politics to contain violence, but one that unintentionally naturalizes it
verschärfte sich in den letzten Jahren der Konflikt zwischen der Volksrepublik (VR) China und ins... more verschärfte sich in den letzten Jahren der Konflikt zwischen der Volksrepublik (VR) China und insbesondere den Philippinen, aber auch den anderen Staaten, die Ansprüche auf Territorien und Souveränitätsrechte innerhalb weitreichender ausschließlicher Wirtschaftszonen (AWZ) beanspruchen. China scheint in den letzten Jahren zunehmend darauf zu setzen, durch aggressives Handeln vor Ort Fakten zu schaffen und die anderen Anspruchsteller aus der Region zu verdrängen. Gegen die chinesische Position erhebt sich verschärfter Widerstand. Am prominentesten wurde dieser durch die philippinische Entscheidung von 2013 sichtbar, ein Schiedsverfahren vor dem Ständigen Schiedshof in Den Haag anzustrengen, das im Wesentlichen darauf abzielte, die chinesischen Ansprüche als unrechtmäßig zu entlarven und China als aggressive Macht bloßzustellen.
DESCRIPTION This study compares the Malaysian and Philippine reaction to China's South China ... more DESCRIPTION This study compares the Malaysian and Philippine reaction to China's South China Sea policy. It sets out in the late 1980s and continues to the present. It argues that China's opponents do have various options for influencing Chinese conflict behavior. The general argument is that Chinese perceptions and behavior are dependent on the opponent’s prior publicly voiced perceptions of and actions towards China. Specifically it is argued that by signaling respect to China and creating a "we-group" based on shared values and aspirations, China's opponents in the maritime and territorial conflict can moderate Chinese conflict behavior. Chinese preoccupation with gaining face provides China’s opponents with windows of opportunity for trading respect for China’s face for Chinese restraint in disputes. Given the extremely high costs of coercion in asserting territorial claims, it is argued that in their quest for upholding domestic legitimacy Chinese elites w...
Das Buch vergleicht drei multiethnische Gesellschaften Süd- und Südostasiens - die Philippinen, S... more Das Buch vergleicht drei multiethnische Gesellschaften Süd- und Südostasiens - die Philippinen, Sri Lanka und Malaysia - in Bezug auf deren Fähigkeit, interethnische Konflikte gewaltarm zu bearbeiten. Gezeigt wird, dass weder Multiethnizität Gewalt befördert, noch dass eine demokratische Regierungsform als Allheilmittel zur Zivilisierung des interethnischen Konfliktaustrags gelten kann. Vielmehr kommt dem Faktor Kultur eine zentrale Rolle sowohl für die Wege in die Gewalt als auch für deren Vermeidung zu. Ethnizität und politische Institutionen können in Abhängigkeit von kulturellen Mustern sowohl konfliktverschärfend als auch -zivilisierend wirken.
In terms of the stress on reforming the local social order, it should also not be misunderstood t... more In terms of the stress on reforming the local social order, it should also not be misunderstood that the political conflict between the Muslims and the Philippine state can be treated as an appendix. It likewise demands committed action. Unfortunately, despite its advantageous position, it appears that the new government lacks commitment. It is a sad fact that the problem of the Muslims in southern Philippines is only prominent on the national political level while the guerrillas are building a strong backdrop of threats supported by the selective use of violence. When such a backdrop is not there, the problem is happily ignored. 2 This ahistoric perspective is particularly prominent in the works of David Collier and the World Bankcentred working group led by him. The analyses of these scientists concentrate almost exclusively on the comparison between plausibility and greed-and grievance-based violence (see e.g.
This article provides a detailed analysis of pre-Duterte and Duterte police use of deadly force i... more This article provides a detailed analysis of pre-Duterte and Duterte police use of deadly force in the Philippines. It first develops a set of indicators that allow for assessing the magnitude of police use of deadly force in “armed encounters”, its relation to the threat environments in which the police operate, and the lethality of such violence. Then, based on a self-developed dataset for the pre-Duterte decade and the ABS-CBN dataset on Duterte period police killings, it establishes the past and current patterns of police use of deadly force. The analysis shows that in the past decade as under Duterte inter-provincial spatial and temporal variation of police use of deadly force has been very high. Differences in the threat environment play only a minor role in explaining this variation. Differences in sub-national units’ reactions to the Duterte campaign mirror those in police use of deadly force during the earlier decade, signaling strong path-dependency. Lethality-levels have ...
This report deals with domination in three different regions in the Philippines: the two province... more This report deals with domination in three different regions in the Philippines: the two provinces of Pampanga and Negros Occidental, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Domination in the Philippines has been analysed under various headings, from patron-client relations to patrimonialism, oligarchy, bossism and principalia-rule. While there are certain differences, the various broadly used concepts coalesce around an understanding that posits a fusion of wealth and political power as well as a political process that is characterised by clientelism, crime and coercion exerted by elected politicians. Yet despite significant consensus with respect to the empirical representations of Philippine politics, no model has emerged up to the present that integrates all four core dimensions of oligarchy, patronage, corruption and illegal business, and violence. This report proposes a model that differentiates between the structural viewpointwhich focuses on the predominance of an oligarchic elite-and the process modelwhich describes domination as a specific way of doing politics Mafia-style. From the outset, one must bear in mind that Mafia-style domination does not presuppose the existence of a Mafia-type organisation but rather refers to a specific way of exerting and upholding power. As Henner Hess, one of the foremost researchers on the Mafia, has argued, this is a "method for the consolidation of ruling positions" (Hess 1998: 6). Understood in such a way, Mafia can "in principle […] be applied to any power phenomena functioning analogously in other cultures" (Hess 1998: 175). In the final analysis, fundamental change depends on the ballot box and will not be forthcoming as long as proponents of the status quo continue to be re-elected by an electorate that expects governance through clientelist exchange relationships. 6. Conclusion 6.1 Mafia-style domination: Variations of a common theme 6.2 Thinking about change Bibliography 1 In the report, many of the details on individual cases had to be omitted. For the case studies see: Kreuzer 2011a, 2011b, 2012. For a study on Mafia-style politics in the Philippines that largely focuses on other regions see Kreuzer 2009. The present study is based on extensive literature surveys in European and Philippine libraries and extended fieldwork in the years 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011. The interviewees comprise a broad array of political actors, from local level politicians to state administrators (e.g. members of the police or the Human Rights Commission), NGO workers, church representatives and members of the media).
At the beginning of the 21st century, ethnic or racial conflicts proliferate in the world. As soo... more At the beginning of the 21st century, ethnic or racial conflicts proliferate in the world. As soon as some conflicts seem to be resolved, new ones break out. Many conflicts resurface each time some kind of path to peace seems to be forged. The conflicts between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil Tigers, the conflict between the Philippines and the Muslim insurgents in Mindanao are but two prominent cases in point. Most of such cases are characterised by constant efforts at resolution, by intermittent negotiations, interspersed with renewed violence, and cycles of military escalation and de-escalation. Based on a comparison of three cases (the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Malaysia), we argue that, in order to understand the driving forces of inter-ethnic violence, it is vitally important to reflect on the development and uses of the politically salient collective identities as well as on their interplay in the debate and struggle over the definition of state and nation. Not only the wa...
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