Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines

by Mark R. Thompson (Editor), Eric V. Batalla (Editor)

The Philippines is a fascinating example of a "poor country democracy" where issues of economic development and poverty, political participation and stability, as well as ethnicity and migration are crucial. The Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines provides a comprehensive overview of the current political, economic, social, and cultural issues of the country. The Handbook is divided into the following four sections concentrating on a different aspect of the In terms of domestic politics, chapters discuss clientelism, bossism, dynasties, pork barrel and corruption as well as institutions - the presidency, congress, the judiciary, the civil service, political parties, and civilian-military relations. The Philippines is confronted with many overseas challenges, with the foreign relations section focused on the country’s relationship with China, Japan, and the USA as well as assessing the impact of the Filipino diaspora community around the world. Regarding economics and social policy, authors examine industrial policy, capital flight, microfinance, technocracy, economic nationalism, poverty, social welfare programs, and livelihoods. The final section on Philippine cultures and movements highlights issues of customs, gender, religion, and nationalism while also examining various social and political forces - the peasantry, the middle class, indigenous peoples, NGOs, the left, trade unionism, the women’s movement, and major insurgencies. Written by leading experts in the field, the Handbook provides students, scholars, and policymakers of Southeast Asia with an interdisciplinary resource on the evolving politics, society, and economics of the Philippines.

492 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2016

Reviews

[Clifford Luebben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most up to date (published in 2018) academic work on the Philippines I’ve been able to find. It’s not the sort of book that will give you the day to day tools of navigating a culture (i.e. navigating relationships, what gestures might be found offensive, expecting people to be late for appointments, etc.). It’s more about the current state of the “systems” of the Philippines and assessing how they got there. This book will provide the reader an understanding as to why the government works the way it does, the Philippines relationships with key foreign nations, the unique aspects of its economy, the history of the government’s conflicts with the Muslim majority provinces, etc.

It’s an anthology work, so as is typical with such collections, the quality of each chapter will vary. The biases brought into the collection noticeably vary as well. For example, the chapters on economics tended toward more of a Realist outlook whereas the chapter on peasantry was explicitly Marxist. Some of the chapters I found particularly helpful include most of the chapters on the domestic politics, the chapter on the diaspora, the nation’s persistent poverty, its syncretic culture, the politics of indigenous peoples, and the chapters on the Moro insurgencies.

I don’t know that many people would find the entirety of the book helpful, but many people in (especially but not limited to foreigners) or at least with serious connections to the Philippines will likely find at least some of the chapters a helpful resource.

[Joma Geneciran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Routledge Handbooks. This is an okay collection. My three-star rating is not reflective of the quality of essays, rather, its relevance for my interest. I found the section on Foreign Relations [Part II] and Cultures and Movements [Part IV] to be good. Nathan Quimpo's essay on "The Left: Struggling to make a comeback" was particularly helpful.

My biggest critique is given the Philippines colonial history, I would have expected to have seen more explicitly, engagement with imperialism, extraction, combined and uneven development, some sort of decolonial or world-systems analysis but it was all-in-all missing for a less helpful analysis of clientelism. The closest was covered in a tertiary way in Howard Loewen's chapter on the "Foreign Relations Between the Philippines & US".