We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more, please click this link.
Populism is the ivermectin of democracy. It thrives on widespread uncertainty and desperation among disillusioned voters who have lost faith in established sources of authority. Populism raises some crucial questions about democratic governance, yet it often fails…
Reflecting on the inherent limits of electoral politics, the radical activist Emma Goldman was said to have warned: “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” Witnessing the worst aspects of early 20th-century American democracy, she saw…
There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States [in] Afghanistan,” declared President Joseph Biden just over a month ago. “The likelihood there’s going…
In his ideal republic, the 18th-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau envisioned a society where “no citizen shall ever be wealthy enough to buy another, and none poor enough to be forced to sell himself.” Often spurned by…
“A fiction, believed in even though you know it is a fiction, can be validated only by sheer will,” wrote Harold Bloom. The literary critic, arguably the greatest of his generation, had no less than Don Quixote…
“People are drawn to the easy and to the easiest side of the easy,” observed Rainer Maria Rilke in “Letters to a Young Poet.” The poet then emphasized the need for us to “hold ourselves to the…
A few years back, when Dutertismo was still a novel ideology and hopes ran high for transformative politics, I stumbled upon an interesting comment on one of my interviews. It was posted by an overseas Filipino worker…
In the Philippines, even the past is unpredictable. Each administration has its own version of history, often diametrically opposed to each other’s. Ignorance is partly at fault. More than three decades after the fall of the Marcos…
Over the past years, from Brazil to India and the Philippines, millions of voters have placed their faith in charismatic strongmen who thrive on apocalyptic rhetoric and who promised to single-handedly address complex 21st-century challenges. Recently, however,…
As long as you remain meek and humble,” claimed President Duterte shortly after one of his numerous meetings with China’s leaders, “[you] will have mercy [from China].” The former-mayor-turned-president has stood by his side of that bargain.…
The concept of “political will” is arguably among the most resonant catchphrases in our national discourse. And yet, the concept remains one of the most confounding and abused terms in our political lexicon. Long-time mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s…
My childhood memories tend to be a patchwork of pulsating sentiments and innocent joys. These “East of Eden” days were also punctuated by tragedies and traumas, beginning with the 1990 earthquake in my hometown of Baguio. But…
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more, please click this link.