The Case of the Philippine Drug War: When the State Securitizes an Existential Threat to Public Safety (original) (raw)
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Securitization of the Philippines War on Drugs
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This paper explores the concept of securitization presented by Copehagen School and interprets the Philipines War on Drugs through its lens. The Filipino war against drugs is entrenched in deep social, economic and historic disparities and frustrations. The war seemed to have revived the general masses by giving them an enemy they can let their hatred out on and by doing so, they now see an end to the chaos and lawlessness. However, it is the rhetoric of the state that has convinced the public about a solution that is neither sustainable nor a cure for the country's drug epidemic.
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Since his inauguration in late June 2016, Duterte has adopted “shoot-to-kill” policy for suspected criminals and drug addicts. Despite public support, the policy received growing international backlash over extra-judicial killing and mass slaughter of youth, mainly the urban poor communities. This paper attempts to analyze the process of securitization waged by President Duterte to construct a state of emergency of drugs so that extraordinary yet outrageous measures can be justified by using the Copenhagen School’s securitization concept developed by Buzan, Waever, and Wilde (1998). This paper argues that President Duterte’s speech acts and politicization of threats successfully build public support of harsher law enforcement on drug-related crime. Furthermore, the paper also connects the dot between the securitization of drugs as Duterte’s political weapon and the disproportionate impact it has on the minority poor and vulnerable children. Using the critical application of securiti...
Drugs and drug addiction may be generally referred to what Jose P. Rizal may have referred to as the “Cancer of Society” that ruins the social fabric of any society. Not only does drugs destroys lives, but the would-be potential of those addicted on drugs to function in an organized society. This comes in a crucial time wherein the President strongly put forth his War on Drugs, involving the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in its campaign as leading government security agencies since 2016. In this regard, it intends to provide a preliminary assessment of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s “War on Drugs”, through government’s supplemental operational forces (via AFP), within the Metro Manila. Moreover, this will be supplemented with the following objectives to support the main objective, particularly: To determine how the current conduct its role on PRRD’s “War on Drugs” within the National Capital Region; To identify the problems or operational gaps that are being encountered by the AFP in its role in the conduct of PRRD’ War on Drugs; and To determine the manner upon which the AFP can improve its role to better support PRRD’s “War on Drugs.”
State Security, Societal Security, and Human Security
Jadavpur Journal of International Relations, 2017
Generally speaking, the traditional approach of security mainly regards states as a sole referent object of security and refutes any attempt to broaden the concept of security. This understanding is known as a realist approach. This approach, however, has been recently challenged by the Copenhagen School, the Welsh School, and the human security approach. The Copenhagen School assumes that there is now a duality of security: state security and societal security. However, both the Welsh School and the human security school look at individuals as a sole referent object of security. This article critically reviews the traditional approaches of security, the Copenhagen School, the Welsh School, and the human security approach. This article finally argues that the Copenhagen School could successfully broaden the concept of security, and therefore, it is more convincing when compared to other schools.
The purpose of this research is to identify the positive and negative mental perceptions of AUP Academy students concerning the current government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign when it comes to their security and whether the students were concerned about the war against illegal drugs. The research process involved administering survey questionnaires to the respondents. The questionnaire included questions that asked their safety perceptions and feelings toward the war on drugs. It also included statements about the war on drugs that could be personally rated according to the Likert scale. The data gathered for the statements that could be rated were mostly positive with a considerable amount of people undecided about the issue. The results for the open-ended questions on the other hand affirmed that there are both positive and negative effects. The results were gathered in a table and categorized by its positive or negative nature. The findings of this research could help future research on this topic and could help raise awareness of the impacts of punitive anti-illegal drugs wars initiated by the government.