The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy

Co-sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Center for East Asian Studies, and the Southeast Asia Program

Who is Rodrigo Duterte?  How did he become president of the Philippines?  How has his rule impacted Philippine democracy and society?  Is his ascent part of a broader “Duterte wave” of strongman leadership in Russia, Turkey, India, China, and Southeast Asia?  What is his foreign policy?  How has it affected Sino-US rivalry in Asia including the situation in the South China Sea?  Richard Heydarian will address these and other questions drawing on field research for his latest book, The Rise of Duterte.  Regarding China, he will argue that Duterte’s willingness to realign Manila with Beijing at Washington’s expense offers a glimpse of what China’s rise could imply for nations around the world.  The book will be available for sale at his talk. 

Richard Javad Heydarian is the most prolific and interviewed geopolitical analyst currently writing and speaking not only in the Philippines but arguably in Southeast Asia as well. Outlets for his articles and remarks have included Aljazeera English, The Atlantic, BBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The New York Times, Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. In addition to the 2017 book that entitles his talk, he has written two others: Asia's New Battlefield: US, China, and the Struggle for Western Pacific (2015) and How Capitalism Failed the Arab World (2014). He lectures widely; has taught political science at Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University in the Philippines; has published in leading scholarly journals on Asian politics and security; and is a regular contributor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations.