Duterte Sabotaging The Country Of The Philippines Case Study

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A bold statement, to say the least. Since Duterte’s rise to power in May, 2016 as the 16th President of the Philippines, as what is described as a “landslide” victory with over 16 million votes (around 39% of total votes cast, more than 6 million votes ahead of his closest rival), both his actions and words has brought the Republic of the Philippines to the spotlight numerous times (Cruz, 2016). From comparing himself to Hitler, to cursing Obama “putangina” (literally means whore-mother, “figuratively” calling Obama “son of a bitch”), Duterte certainly made himself stand out from other heads of states and governments (Villamor, 2016; Lacorte, 2016). Is Duterte simply a mad man that was given the power of a state, or is there strategy underneath his “iron fist” policies and “careless” choice of words? This paper aims to analyze Duterte’s reasoning on “sabotaging” the US-Philippines relations, using the theoretical approach of neoclassical realism, and seek to give an explanation to Duterte’s seemingly reckless diplomatic maneuvers.
“The Philippines is not a
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Back in 2002, when Duterte is still the mayor of Davao City, Time magazine dubbed him “The Punisher” for using death squads to execute criminals and street children in his city. The people of Davao City, and later, the Philippines, however, have shown immense support to “the Duterte way” (Zabriskie, 2002). Duterte served a total of seven terms and 22 years as the Mayor of Davao City since 1988, and during his reign, the average crime rate of Davao sunk to the lowest across the Philippines. While some consider this kind of “victory” came at a grave cost, many thinks that Duterte is not afraid to do what has to be

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