SECURITIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES’ DRUG WAR: DISCLOSING THE POWER-RELATIONS BETWEEN DUTERTE, FILIPINO MIDDLE CLASS, AND THE URBAN POOR
Disclosing the Power-Relations between Duterte, Filipino Middle Class, and the Urban Poor
Keywords:
Securitization of Drugs, War on Drugs, Duterte, Philippines
Abstract
Since his inauguration in late June 2016, Duterte has adopted “shoot-to-kill” policy for suspected criminals and drug addicts. Despite public support, the policy received growing international backlash over extra-judicial killing and mass slaughter of youth, mainly the urban poor communities. This paper attempts to analyze the process of securitization waged by President Duterte to construct a state of emergency of drugs so that extraordinary yet outrageous measures can be justified by using the Copenhagen School’s securitization concept developed by Buzan, Waever, and Wilde (1998). This paper argues that President Duterte’s speech acts and politicization of threats successfully build public support of harsher law enforcement on drug-related crime. Furthermore, the paper also connects the dot between the securitization of drugs as Duterte’s political weapon and the disproportionate impact it has on the minority poor and vulnerable children. Using the critical application of securitization theory developed by Charett (2009), the paper concludes that the asymmetrical power relations will lead to securitizing actor maintaining its power in the expense of oppressing the marginalized voice, especially the minority poor and children population, thus de-securitization model (Hansen, 2012) is more effective in dealing drug-related crimes in the Philippines.
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References
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Williams, M. C. (2003). "Words, Images, Enemies, Securitization and International Politics." International Studies Quarterly (47), p. 512.
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Bigo, D. (2002). “Security and Immigration: Toward a Critique of the Governmentality of Unease.” Alternatives 27: Special Issue 63-92.
Buzan, B., Wæver, O., and de Wilde, J. (1998). Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder. Colo: Lynne Rienner Pub.
Charrett, C. (2009). “A Critical Application of Securitization Theory: Overcoming the Normative Dilemma of Writing Security." International Catalan Institute for Peace, Working Paper No. 2009/7.
Coronel, S., Kalaw-Tirol, Lorna., and Pimentel, B. (2019). “The Drug Killings: Who, What, Where, When, How?” The Drug Archive. https://drugarchive.ph/post/26-the-drugkillings-who-what-where-when-how-master.
Csete, J. et al. (2016). “Public health and international drug policy.” Lancet; 387: 1427–80. dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(16)00619-X.
Conde, C. H. (2020). "Our Happy Family Is Gone: Impact of the "War on Drugs" on Children in the Philippines." Human Rights Watch Report. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/17642/pdf/philippines0520_web_0.pdf/ (Accessed on 20 July 2020)
Curato, N. (2016). “Politics of Anxiety, Politics of Hope: Penal Populism and Duterte’s Rise to Power.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 35 (3).
Curato, N. & Ong, J. C. (2018). “Who Laughs at a Rape Joke? Illiberal Responsiveness in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines.” Ethical Responsiveness and the Politics of Difference 65.
Eriksson, O. (1999). “Observers or Advocates? On the Political Role of Security Analysts.” Cooperation and Conflict (34), p. 315.
Espenido, G. (2018). "Philippines’ War on Drugs: Its Implications to Human Rights in Social Work Practice." Journal of Human Rights and Social Work 3.
Flores, H. "82% of Pinoys satisfied with drug war - SWS." The Philippine Str. 23 September 2019. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/09/23/1954156/82-pinoys-satisfied-drug-war-sws/ (Accessed on 17 July 2020)
Hansen, L. (2012). "Reconstructing Desecuritisation: The Normative-Political in The Copenhagen School and Directions for How to Apply It." Review of International Studies, Vol. 38, Issue 3. doi.org/10.1017/S0260210511000581
Heydarian, R. J. "Duterte replacing old elite with new in Philippines." Asia Times. 10 December 2019. https://asiatimes.com/2019/12/duterte-replacing-old-elite-with-new-in-philippines/ (Acessed on 30 July 2020)
Hincks, J. "Philippines: Inside Duterte's killer drug war." Al Jazeera. 9 September 2016. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/09/philippines-duterte-killer-drug-war-160905094258461.html (Accessed on 18 July 2020)
"Explainer: How serious is the PH drug problem? Here's the data." Rappler. 27 August 2016. https://rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/data-drug-problem-philippines (Accessed on 20 July 2020)
Johnson, D. T. & Fernquest, J. (2018). "Governing through Killing: The War on Drugs in the Philippines." Asian Journal of Law and Society, Volume 5, Issue 2. doi.org/10.1017/als.2018.12
Jun You, H. (2018). “The Philippines Mystery: Rodrigo Duterte's Popularity. The Cornell International Affairs Review Vol. XI.
Kusaka, W. (2017). "Bandit Grabbed the State: Duterte's Moral Politics." Philippine Sociological Review Vol. 65, Special Issue: Imagined Democracies.
Kennert, M. & Eligh, M. (2019). “A Militarized Political Weapon: The Philippines' War on Drugs” Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime Report. https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/TGIATOC-Drug-related-violence-in-the-Philippines-report-1938-web-2.pdf/
Kim, E., Dinco, J., Suamen, L., Hayes, M. & Papsch, T. (2017). “The Impact of Securitisation on Marginalised Groups in the Asia Pacific: Humanising the Threats to
Security in Cases from the Philippines, Indonesia and China.” Global Campus Human Rights Journal 414 (1).
Kine, P. (2017). "Phillipine President Rodrigo Duterte's 'War on Drugs'." Harvard International Review Harvard International Review Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 24-27.
Labastin, B. A. (2018). "Two Faces of Dutertismo: Two Visions of Democracy in the Philippines." Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy, Special Issue December 2018.
“License to Kill” Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s “War on Drugs.” Human Rights Watch Report 2017. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/philippines0317_web_1.pdf
Manalo, K. (2017). "DDB game plan: Target supply and demand in drug war." ABS-CBN News. 30 October 2017. https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/30/17/ddb-game-plan-target-supply-and-demand-in-drug-war (Accessed on 30 July 2020)
McDonald, M. (2008). "Securitization and the Construction of Security." European Journal of International Relations, 14:4. doi.org/10.1177/1354066108097553
Murdoch, L. (2017). "Philippine fishermen say they are dumping bodies in Duterte's 'war on drugs'." The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 July 2017. https://www.smh.com.au/world/philippine-fishermen-say-they-are-dumping-bodies-in-dutertes-war-on-drugs-20170730-gxlmhz.html (Accessed on 15 July 2020).
"Nationwide Survey on the Nature and Extent of Drug Abuse in the Philippines 2015." Dangerous Drugs Board of the Philippines. https://pcij.org/uploads/5be017bdced4d-DDB-2015-Nationwide-Survey-Final-Reportc.pdf/
Pernia, R. A. (2019). "Human Rights in a Time of Populism: Philippines under Rodrigo Duterte." Asia-Pacific Social Science Review 19(3)
"Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte urges people to kill drug addicts." The Guardian. 1 July 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/01/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-urges-people-to-kill-drug-addicts/ (Accessed on 16 July 2020).
"Philippines' 'War on Drugs'." Human Rights Watch. 2020. https://www.hrw.org/tag/philippines-war-drugs/ (Accessed on 14 July 2020)
"Proclamation No. 55, s. 2016." Official Gazette, Government of The Philippines. 4 September 2016. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2016/09/04/proclamation-no-55-s-2016/ (Accessed on 18 July 2020)
Ramos, C. G. (2020). "Change without Transformation: Social Policy Reforms in the Philippines under Duterte.” Development and Change Vol. 51 Issue 2.
Regencia, T. (2017). "Duterte: 'I will kill more if only to get rid of drugs'." Al Jazeera. 3 February 2017. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/02/duterte-kill-rid-drugs-170202073247477.html/ (Accessed on 17 July 2020).
Regilme, S. S. F. (2020). "Visions of Peace Amidst a Human Rights Crisis: War on Drugs in Colombia and the Philippines." Journal of Global Security Studies. doi:10.1093/jogss/ogaa022
Reyes, D. A. (2016). “The Spectacle of Violence in Duterte’s “War on Drugs.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs Vol. 35 (3).
"Rodrigo Duterte’s lawless war on drugs is wildly popular." The Economist. 20 February 2020. https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/02/20/rodrigo-dutertes-lawless-war-on-drugs-is-wildly-popular (Accessed on 19 July 2020)
Shaw, A., Egan, J. & Gillespie, M. (2007). "Drugs and Poverty: A Literature Review." Scottish Drug Forum Report. www.sdf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Drugs__Poverty_Literature_Review_2007.pdf (Accessed on 28 July 2020)
Simbulan, N., Estacio, L., Dioquino-Maligaso, C., Herbosa, T., & Withers, M. (2019). "The Manila Declaration on the Drug Problem in the Philippines." Ann Global Health 85(1). doi: 10.5334/aogh.28
Talabong, R. (2017). "Except for killings, all crimes drop in Duterte's 1st year." Rappler. 12 August 2017. https://rappler.com/nation/crimes-killings-pnp-statistics-duterte-first-year (Accessed on 23 July 2020)
Talabong, R. (2017). "PH drug problem rooted in poverty - drugs board chief." Rappler. 30 October 2017. https://rappler.com/nation/philippines-drug-problem-rooted-poverty-ddb-chief-dionisio-santiago (Accessed on 29 July 2020)
Teehankee, J. C. (2016). "Duterte’s Resurgent Nationalism in the Philippines: A Discursive Institutionalist Analysis." Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Vol. 35 (3).
Thompson, M. R. (2016). “Bloodied Democracy: Duterte and the Death of Liberal Reformism in the Philippines.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 35 (3).
"2018 Statistics." Dangerous Drugs Board: Republic of The Philippines Office of the President. 14 October 2019. https://www.ddb.gov.ph/research-statistics/statistics/45-research-and-statistics/434-2018-statistics (Accessed on 30 July 2020)
Villamor, F. (2016). "Duterte, Citing Hitler, Says He Wants to Kill 3 Million Addicts in Philippines." The New York Times. 30 September 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/world/asia/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-hitler-drugs.html (Accessed on 15 July 2020)
Wæver, Ole. 1995. “Securitization and Desecuritization,” in On Security, ed. Ronnie Lipschutz. NY: Columbia University Press.
Wells, M. (2017). "Philippines: Duterte's 'war on drugs' is a war on the poor." Amnesty International. 4 February 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/02/war-on-drugs-war-on-poor/ (Accessed on 19 July 2020)
Widiyono, Y. (2018). "The Effect of Illicit Drugs Securitization in Indonesia.” Master of Arts (MA), thesis, International Studies, Old Dominion University, doi:10.25777/k6y0-3v94
Windle, J. (2016). "Security trumps drug control: How securitization explains drug policy paradoxes in Thailand and Vietnam." Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy Volume 23 Issue 4. doi.org/10.3109/09687637.2016.1140720
Williams, M. C. (2003). "Words, Images, Enemies, Securitization and International Politics." International Studies Quarterly (47), p. 512.
Wyn Jones, Richard. (1999). Security, Strategy, and Critical Theory. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc.
Published
2021-01-26
How to Cite
Muhammad Anugrah Utama. (2021). SECURITIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES’ DRUG WAR: DISCLOSING THE POWER-RELATIONS BETWEEN DUTERTE, FILIPINO MIDDLE CLASS, AND THE URBAN POOR: Disclosing the Power-Relations between Duterte, Filipino Middle Class, and the Urban Poor. Indonesian Journal of International Relations, 5(1), 41-61. https://doi.org/10.32787/ijir.v5i1.146
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