Peter Kreuzer Libri

In 2013 the Philip­pines brought a case before the Per­manent Court of Arbi­tration (PCA) against China over ter­ritorial sove­reignty and mari­time rights in the South China Sea. Ad­mitted­ly, they were suc­ces­sful before the court, but in the after­math the ten­sions bet­ween both parties iten­si­fied drama­ti­cally - and no con­flict re­so­lution was in sight. Philip­pine President Duterte, in­au­gu­rated in 2016, as­sumed a new stance. He offered to ignore the court ruling for the time being, in­ten­si­fied eco­nomic re­lations and re-es­tab­lished bi­lateral com­muni­cation chan­nels. Kreuzer pre­sents two les­sons learned in deal­ing with China: first, that ap­plying too much pres­sure through legal in­stru­ments may in­crease China's re­sis­tance and, second, that China's be­havior can be in­fluenced through strat­egies that re­spond po­sitively to the country's core needs and pre­di­ca­ments

"Since the election of Rodrigo Duerte as president, the Philippines have been engulfed in a vicious campaign against drug-related crime. More than 1,500 suspects have been killed by police officers in so-called legitimate encounters. An analysis of past patterns of killings by police shows that there are widespread, if less conspicuous, antecedents to the current spate of police-perpetrated vigilante justice. In the past and now, the differences between provinces and regions are attributable to the attitudes of officials in power at the local level. The pressure exerted on local officials by the current national administration reduces their options for resisting the invitation to carry out acts of vigilante justice. The current patterns of strongman rule also exhibit disturbing similarities to the ones used by Ferdinand Marcos before the declaration of martial law in 1972 (and should be seen as an ominous portent of what lies ahead)." --

The past few years are characterized by increased Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea that resulted in various confrontations with the Philippines and Vietnam and an enhanced involvement of the United States. The core question is what other states, especially China‘s adversaries, can do, to evade spirals of escalation without compromising their claims. This report compares the crisis-prone Sino-Philippines with the rather harmonious Sino-Malaysian relations. It extends analysis backwards to the early days of Chinese assertiveness in the late 1980s. This allows the author to show that Chinese behavior in the territorial conflicts co-varies with the contender’s level of recognition of the benign Chinese concepts of national self and world order. Displaying respect towards China mitigates Chinese conflict behavior without compromising the opponent’s territorial claims. Dr Peter Kreuzer, Member of the Executive Board of the PRIF, is a senior researcher in PRIF´s programme department “Governance and Societal Peace”. In his research he focuses on Philippine domestic policy and maritime and territorial conflicts in the South China Sea.

The present study investigates the mode of domination in three different parts of the Philippines: the provinces of Pampanga and Negros Occidental and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Peter Kreuzer develops a model of oligarchy-based Mafia-style domination that integrates the core dimensions of patronage, corruption, illegal business and violence and exemplifies the corresponding social practice in the three regions. With respect to prospects for change, the author remains pessimistic. As long as the electorate continues to re-elect proponents of the status quo and accepts governance through clientelist exchange relationships, the fundamental characteristics of domination will remain in place, even though a focus on rule of law, including a strengthening of the state security forces and judiciary may lead to a reduction of the criminal dimension.

Abstract: "The present study investigates provincial politics in Pampanga, an economically highly developed province in the Philippines. The local mode of domination closely resembles practices employed by the classical Mafia of Sicily and Calabria. "Mafia" in this report does not refer to criminal organization but to how a territory and its population is dominated. The analyses of the economic foundations of domination as well as the respective roles of patronage, violence and extralegal practices reveal the similarity of the classical model to the Philippine case. The study shows that electoral democracy may provide an ideal setting for Mafia-style domination." (author's abstract)

Since the beginnings of the hacienda economy about 150 years ago the local oligarchs in Negros Occidental, a province of the Philippines, have established themselves not only as supreme economic powerholders, but also as politically, socially and culturally dominant force. Even though the mainstay of their grip on power is economic control, rule by law, and political office they regularly also take recourse to intimidation and violence. The dominant position of oligarchy in local and national politics dooms to failure any strategy that aims at their political disempowerment. Efforts at reform should be scaled down to taming the oligarchs by bringing them under the rule of law and thereby replacing the current practice of rule by law. Given the deeply grounded understanding and social practice that effectively puts the elite above the law, this already is a Herculean task.

The level of violence exerted in order to safeguard control and domination is alarmingly high in the Muslim regions of the Southern Philippines. Numerous studies and reports of local politics and society hold the civil war, American colonialism and Philippine internal imperialism responsible for this phenomenon. Yet, Peter Kreuzer´s investigation shows that current practices can be traced back to former centuries and identified as an essential part of social order and practices of control and domination rooted in pre-Islamic times. Despite fundamental changes of the political and economic framework during previous centuries, these ancient patterns of violence have remained a crucial cornerstone of the power of the ruling elite up to today. Thus, reducing violence will only be possible if reformist Muslims and Muslim researchers face up to their own violent roots.

Politics in the Philippines – a criminalized governance? In his report Peter Kreuzer, using the example of the Philippines, points to an underrated phenomenon: political systems, where politics and crime merge. He shows that there exists a significant phenomenological similarity between the traditional Italian mafia and Philippine politics: both are comprehensive systems of domination in which violent competition and social control as well as crime have their systemic place. After a succinct discussion of the core characteristics of traditional mafia domination in Sicily, Peter Kreuzer develops a model of Philippine mafia style politics, illustrated with a host of examples. The conclusion focuses on recommendations for the decriminalization of Philippine politics.

Seit über 30 Jahren führt eine muslimische Guerilla im Süden der Philippinen einen Sezessionskrieg, ohne dass Friedensversuche bislang erfolgreich waren. Die Ursachen sind vielfältig und reichen über nationale politische Konflikte zwischen Regierung und Guerilla hinaus. Der Autor zeigt, dass lokale Claninteressen, Kriminalität und der Kampf um politische Unabhängigkeit die anhaltende Gewalt in der Region antreiben. Dies erschwert eine klare Identifizierung der Gewaltakteure. Im Gegensatz zur gängigen Annahme, dass der Unabhängigkeitskampf die Hauptursache für die Gewalt ist, analysiert Peter Kreuzer die Rolle der Clans und die Mikrodynamiken der Gewalt, die das gesamte Gewaltsystem beeinflussen. Politische Gewalt zeigt sich in unterschiedlichen Facetten, wobei bewaffnete Auseinandersetzungen oft Rivalitäten zwischen konkurrierenden Clans kaschieren. Eine besondere Stärke dieser Analyse liegt in der Fülle und Qualität des empirischen Materials, das durch Interviews aus dem Sommer 2004 mit regionalen Akteuren ergänzt wird. Diese neuen Erkenntnisse bieten tiefere Einblicke in die komplexen Konfliktlagen und bilden die Grundlage für eine Diskussion über mögliche Wege aus der Gewalt.