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This paper presents the roles of Coup D' Etat, Rebellion and Sedition in a Democratic and Republican Philippine state.
Massive peaceful demonstrations ended the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines twenty years ago. The “people power” uprising wascalled a democratic revolution and inspired hopes that it would lead to the consolidationof democracy in the Philippines. When popular uprisings were later used to remove orthreaten other leaders, people power was criticized as an assault on democraticinstitutions and was interpreted as a sign of the political immaturity of Filipinos. Theliterature on people power is presently marked by disagreement as to whether all popularuprisings should be considered part of the people power tradition. The debate isgrounded on the belief that people power was a democratic revolution; other uprisings are judged on how closely they resemble events surrounding Marcos’ ouster from office.This disagreement has become unproductive and has prevented Filipinos from askingquestions about the causes of these uprisings or the failure of democratic consolidation.This Article departs from conventional thought and develops two alternative theories of people power in the Philippines. The first holds that people power is an expression of outrage against a particular public official. The second holds that it is a withdrawal of allegiance from the official in favor of another. Neither view insists that people power isor aspires to democratic revolution. These alternative theories hope to resuscitate thestudy of Philippine democracy.
It has been a little over a year since President Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency. The Mayor-turned-President founded his campaign — and later on his administration — on a promise to swiftly put finis to the drugmenace hounding the Philippines. In keeping to his word, Duterte, his administration, and his supporters have acquiesced, and even encouraged, the killing of suspected drug users and/or peddlers by the police and vigilantes. This is only the first of many illegal and unconstitutional acts of the government under Duterte. The above tableau is curiously set against the background of a republic that espouses in its Constitution the rule of law, the separation of powers, and due process. Duterte’s actions and public acquiescence reflect what the Author calls “constitutional deconsecration” or the processes of removing the sacred character of the Constitution. The Article aims to trace the genesis of constitutional deconsecration, the inquiry branching into: (1) Dutertismo and (2) the colonial history of the Filipino and its effect on the legal transplantation that occurred between the Philippines and the United States. In this Article, the Author dissects the politics of Duterte, arguing that support for the President emanates from the pent-up anger among the middle class at the deterioration of public order and concerns about growing drug abuse. Duterte won and continues to enjoy popular support because he packages himself as a newcomer in Philippine politics, and constantly dissociates himself from the political elites. More importantly, his wanton disregard for the Constitution and prevailing laws is something that needs addressing. From this premise, the Author argues that Filipino indifference or acquiescence to executive acts that clearly violate the Constitution is the product of Philippine colonization. The real reason for Filipino’s lack of fealty towards the rule of law is the absence of a “constitutional moment.” The Constitution was presented as a finished product with local participation to ensure the acquiescence of local elites, with fundamental questions of constitutional choice safely remaining in foreign hands and not entailing any meaningful or substantive decision-making power. An imposed constitution, the Author concludes, is instantly diminished because the colony did not share the values that helped shape the Constitution.
This article examines the typical characteristics and constitutional consequences of a largely neglected phenomenon that I call the “democratic coup d’état.” To date, the academic legal literature has analyzed all military coups under an anti-democratic framework. That conventional framework considers military coups to be entirely anti-democratic and assumes that all coups are perpetrated by power-hungry military officers seeking to depose existing regimes in order to rule their nations indefinitely. Under the prevailing view, therefore, all military coups constitute an affront to stability, legitimacy, and democracy. This article, which draws on fieldwork that I conducted in Egypt and Turkey in 2011, challenges that conventional view and its underlying assumptions. The article argues that, although all military coups have anti-democratic features, some coups are distinctly more democracy-promoting than others because they respond to popular opposition against authoritarian or totalitarian regimes, overthrow those regimes, and facilitate free and fair elections. Following a democratic coup, the military temporarily governs the nation as part of an interim government until democratic elections take place. Throughout the democratic-transition process, the military behaves as a self-interested actor and entrenches, or attempts to entrench, its policy preferences into the new constitution drafted during the transition. Constitutional entrenchment may occur in three ways: procedural, substantive, and institutional. The article uses three comparative case studies to illustrate the democratic-coup phenomenon and the constitutional-entrenchment thesis: (1) the 1960 military coup in Turkey; (2) the 1974 military coup in Portugal; and (3) the 2011 military coup in Egypt.
Filipino Maoist revolutionary and founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines Jose Maria Sison, also known by his pen name Amado Guerrero, wrote Philippine Society and Revolution (also known as Lipunan at Rebolusyong Pilipino). In 1971, it was first released. Since its first print, Philippine Society and Revolution has influenced the Filipino mass movement and is regarded as one of the Communist Party of the Philippines' key sources. In contemporary Filipino culture, it used Maoist analysis to explain the class structure, fundamental problems, and "class logic of the revolutionary solution, which is the people's democratic revolution." From the perspective of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thinking, Philippine Society and Revolution is an attempt to present the central strands of Philippine culture, the fundamental problem of the Filipino people, the prevailing social structure, and the strategy, tactics, and class logic of the revolutionary solution "the people's democratic revolution" in detail. This book explains why the Communist Party of the Philippines was resurrected in order to mobilize and organize the Filipino people, especially the poor and oppressed workers and peasants, against US imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, which now rule the country's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. In this case, the emphasis of this paper is on the Puppet Regimes that have existed throughout Philippine history. A puppet state, dictatorship, or government is one that is legally recognized, autonomous yet highly centralized, and completely dependent on and subject to the orders of an outside power. Puppet states have formal authority, but they are essentially ruled by a foreign power through political, economic, or military aid. Many proxy/puppets regimes offer the appearance of independence, but they are completely dependent on the international power that governs them. Puppet regimes have existed and continue to exist since antiquity. They are typically set up after a foreign power conquers an area and installs a puppet government. International powers install proxy regimes for three main reasons. The first motivation is to use the puppet regime to dominate, or at the very least pacify, the people of the territories it governs. The use of intimidation techniques is also part of this. In certain cases, the foreign power's military forces that install the puppet government are secure. Alternatively, puppet governments can establish their own security apparatus in order to relieve the controlling foreign power of the responsibility of keeping the subject people in line.
The non-violent removal of Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986 through a mass uprising that had started in 1983 was a landmark event both in the Philippines and internationally. It introduced the term ‘people power’ into academic and journalistic discourse and was used as a model for subsequent civil disobedience movements in Asia and the Soviet bloc. It raises many questions regarding the relationship between civil resistance and other forms of power, and the diVerence between short-term and long-term success. Analysis of non-violent resistance in the Philippines is still incomplete. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by offering reflections on the use of non-violent methods in the Philippine context. The first section offers a historical overview of the uneven democratization process from the early 1970s to the flawed election of 2004. The second section, which is in several parts, addresses questions relating to the role of civil resistance in political change. It considers the reasons for the adoption of non-violent strategies, and the ways in which the coexistence of armed struggles in the Philippines influenced the adoption and effectiveness of non-violent methods. It shows how particular circumstances, especially the regime’s shameless electoral fraud, contributed to the movement’s success. It looks briefly at the role of international power balances generally and the US in particular. Various criteria are suggested for the evaluation of the success and failure of the civil resistance movement during the Marcos and immediate post- Marcos years. The concluding section draws out the links between the practice of civil resistance and democratization, and suggests some lessons which can be learnt from the Philippine example. In particular the conclusion asks what post- authoritarian governance in the Philippines since 1986 shows about a possible connection between the practice of civil resistance and liberal outcomes.
Society and Revolution is an attempt to present the main strands of Philippine history, the basic issue of the Filipino people, the dominant social system, and the policy, strategies, and class logic of the revolutionary solutionthe people's democratic revolutionin a detailed way from the perspective of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thinking. Filipino Maoist revolutionary and Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison, also known by his pen name Amado Guerrero, wrote Philippine Society and Revolution. In 1971, it was first published. Since its first print, Philippine Society and Revolution has served as a source of inspiration for the Filipino people, and it is one of the Communist Party of the Philippines' primary outlets. In contemporary Filipino culture, it used Maoist analysis to explain the class structure, basic problems, and "class logic of the revolutionary solution, which is the people's democratic revolution." This book describes why the Communist Party of the Philippines was resurrected in order to mobilize and unite the Filipino people, especially the poor and oppressed workers and peasants, against US imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, which now rule the country's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Following the reading and analysis of some books and records about the Philippines' puppet government during its history and into the future. Many decades ago, Filipinos experienced a drastic shift in the Philippine political system. On the one side, in reaction to rising social tensions, US imperialism and the local ruling class abandoned any pretense of democracy in favor of imposing direct fascist violence on the restive masses through the Marcos martial-law dictatorship. Despite being suppressed by US-backed repression, a national democratic people's movement has grown gradually and slowly to the point that the Filipino people are now closer to national liberation than they have ever been in recent history. This paper focuses on the Puppet Regimes that have existed in the Philippines' past. A puppet state, dictatorship, or government is one that is legally recognized, autonomous yet highly centralized, and completely reliant on and subject to the orders of an outside power. Puppet states have formal control, but they are largely controlled by a foreign power through political, economic, or military aid. Many proxy/puppet regimes offer the appearance of independence, but they are completely dependent on the international power that governs them. Puppet regimes have existed
This paper explains coup activity in democracies by adapting insights from the literature on commitment problems and framing coup around the threats leaders and potential coup plotters pose to each other. I claim democratic constraints on executive power inhibit a leader's ability to repress threats from political rivals. This simultaneously decreases motivations for coup attempts while also making democracies softer targets should coup attempts occur. Consequently, democratic constraints on executive power do not reduce the frequency of coup attempts, but coups attempted against democracies are much more likely to succeed. Using several datasets of coup activity and democratic constraints, I find significant differences in coup activity in democracies and non-democracies. Relative to civilian non-democracies, democracies are about half as likely to use coup-related repression, but they face a similar frequency of coup attempts. Plots against democracies are nearly twice as likely to succeed.
"Review of Comparative Law" 3 (30), 2017
The article discusses the relationship between the concepts of " legal security " and " coup d'état " on the basis of the evolution of these concepts over the centuries. The analysis of the terms which the author is interested in, adopted as the subject of this study, leads to the conclusion that, in particular, the concept of " coup d'état " is often mistakenly refereed to as a " revolution " or a " putsch ". A political upheaval, one of the methods of which is a coup d' état, should be regarded, in the light of the research carried out, as deviating from the concept and character of a social upheaval. In the case of a political upheaval, the legal security of the individual is usually protected as before, and a possible lack of such security should only be treated as a result of the natural tendency of the individual to protect his or her legal status within a state organisation. It is only with changes of social (class) character, which may be an indirect consequence of a political upheaval, that the addresses of legal norms may have justified concerns about their legal safety.
I N T E R F E R E Journal for Critical Thought and Radical Politics, 2020
Ateneo Law Journal, 2021
The presidency of Rodrigo Roa Duterte brought about challenges to the Philippines’ democratic order and the practice of human rights. A good number of scholarly accounts point towards Duterte’s “populist” rhetoric as the upending of traditional democratic values, which includes the flagrant disregard for the rule of law. This paper examines the Duterte regime from a critical view of the conception of the rule of law and the liberal democratic principles ushered in by the post-dictatorship order. While the apparent atrophy of democratic values under the Duterte regime may be simply attributed to mere dismissiveness, this paper looks at how Duterte himself renegotiated the conception of the rule of law through a divergent articulation of its attendant values. Without simply resorting to the call for restoration, this paper is an invitation for a reexamination of the rule of law and its associated institutions and norms to aid in the understanding of the political and legal outcomes in the time of Duterte and beyond.
Journal of Democracy, 2019
Liberal democracy in the Philippines is under stress, and the midterm congressional elections on 13 May 2019 did little to temper fears of an imminent turn to illiberalism. Buoyed by the popularity of President Rodrigo Duterte, his allies have gained effective control of both houses of Congress as well as other major institutions. This article argues that the current efforts to undermine the Philippines' post-1987 constitutional order are unprecedented—and many of these efforts involve nominally legal means such as acts of Congress and threats of impeachment and broad constitutional change. Southeast Asia's oldest democracy is dying not only by coercion, but also by law.
Kartepe Zirvesi 2017, 2017
This paper pretends to analyze and reflect about democracy, its threats and coups d’état in Latin America, in the light of the events in July 2016 in the Republic of Turkey. It looks for elements in order to understand how one of the most troubled region in the world could overcome a coup d’état history. If the XX century was the narrow period because of the regular interruption of the political processes, it was also an interesting moment of the Latin American history. After recovering democracy, graves social, political and economic consequences emerge in the region. Since a few decades, Latin America is walking towards its democratic consolidation, with an active civil society, but with threats to its institutional arrangement.
BEP Working Paper Series, 2014
The study of coup d’etats have been a mainstay of mainstream political science since the early 1960s but the bulk of the literature is concerned with an analysis of the macro-level socio-economic conditions that make coups feasible. While this is useful, it exposes a huge gap in the literature because almost no attention has been paid to the intricacies involved in the actual planning and execution of a coup. Authors that have attempted to examine this neglected aspect of the coup d’etat have done so exclusively from a “general reader” perspective, stripping the works of the kind of methodological and theoretical detail that is common in the academic literature. Nevertheless, these works make a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of the mechanics of actually organizing and staging a coup. This essay briefly examines three seminal works in this field – Steven Edward Finer’s The Man on Horseback, Edward Luttwak’s Coup D’Etat and Bruce Farcau’s The Coup: Tactics in the Seizure of Power.
2016
Starting from early Roman, Athenian and Greek city-states, continuing throughout the medieval ages, coup d'état got its final expression in post-colonial states after the Second World War. Eric Carlton mentions the story of ouster of the emperor Commodus by one of the most distinguished generals of Rome Petrinax as early as in 192 A. D.-Petrinax himself being ousted and killed in a counter-coup in 193 A. D. See generally ERIC CARLTON, THE STATE AGAINST THE STATE: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE COUP D'ÉTAT (1997) (focusing on the coup d'état using examples from classical Athens, republican Rome, Mughal India, Egypt, Japan, and Iran). 2 Steven R. David thinks that "coups are likely to persist in the third world as long as power is concentrated in a narrow elite that succeeds in denying meaningful political participation to the people." STEVEN R. DAVID, THIRD WORLD COUPS D'ÉTAT AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY 6 (1987).
Journal of Conflict Resolution 56(6):1017-1040, 2012
Previous studies have attested to leaders ''coup-proofing'' their regimes by reducing the ability or disposition of their armies to seek their removal. The following article tests the utility of these efforts. ''Structural'' coup-proofing such as counterbalancing is expected to reduce the ability to organize a coup plot by creating substantial coordination obstacles to soldiers. Coup-proofing by spoiling militaries with organizational resources is expected to reduce the willingness to intervene. However, increased organizational resources are expected to increase the army's capabilities, thereby increasing the likelihood of a coup's success. The theory is empirically tested using a selection model with a global sample from 1961 to 2000. Findings suggest that both coup-proofing strategies are effective deterrents of coup activity and, more generally, that characteristics of the military appear to be far more important than economic influences on coups.
This e-book is a college textbook for the course, Philippine History with Politics, Government, and the Philippines Constitution. It provides a brief discussion on the nature of history in general and Philippine history during the Spanish period. Applying the sociological and juridical perspectives, it also explains the nature and structure of Philippine politics, government system and the Philippine constitution. Finally, it provides an overview of the three branches of the Philippine government under the 1987 Constitution. This textbook is ideal for students who study history, politics, and political law of the Philippines.
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