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CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article

Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. International Studies
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2024.1444748

The Philippines's Acquiescent Ascension

Provisionally accepted
Bama Andika Putra Bama Andika Putra *
  • University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    One of the puzzles to the Philippines' middle power status is how it responds to great power rivalries in the Indo-Pacific. As a claimant state to the South China Sea, its responses in the maritime domain could reveal unique foreign policy patterns on how middle powers respond to overlapping maritime borders. However, the middle power literature cannot make sense of the inconsistencies in the Philippines' foreign policy vis-à-vis the South China Sea, showcasing deference and defiance policies between 2016 and 2023. This study argues that bridging role theory into middle power literature can retrieve a more nuanced understanding of how middle powers behave. Utilizing primary and secondary data, this qualitative inquiry captures state narratives of the Philippines' role conceptions and concludes: 1) Duterte's abandonment of the US alliance and appeasement to China as 'active independent' and 'anti-imperialist agent' role conceptions; and 2) Marcos's alignment to the US regional order, sea-based power projections, and leverage of the Philippines' arbitral ruling representing 'faithful ally' and 'example' role conceptions 1

    Keywords: Philippines1, Middle Powers2, Role Conceptions3, Southeast Asian Regional Dynamics4, Role Theory5

    Received: 06 Jun 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Putra. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Bama Andika Putra, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

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