Small State Security Syndrome: Understanding the Philippines' National Security Strategy (original) (raw)
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Based on the objectives of this ethnography, the pursuit of this study wants to contribute to a better understanding of the Philippines strategic culture in its continuing battle to protect its territorial integrity and national sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea. The research has looked at the plausible approaches in contributing to the epistemic literature of the anthropology of security by examining the country’s strategic culture in the West Philippine Sea, identifying themes on the Philippines strategic culture in its imminent external security threat, and to recommend projected Philippines responses to advance the country’s strategic culture. Based on the findings of the ethnography, China has already risen economically, militarily and politically. The pronounced power shift in the West Philippine Sea, two superpowers, one emerging (China) while the other declining (United States), are tossing coins with each other as they flex military muscles in the new-found maritime battleground at the expense of smaller nation like the Philippines, ascribing and still trying to identify and institutionalize its own strategic culture. In-depth analyses and rhetoric sandwiched in this ethnographic account identified legal remedies, diplomatic negotiations, and military alliance as part of building the capacity to foster the country’s robust strategic culture. It is obvious that although the country manifests strategic culture, it is still episodic and not well-defined or long-term, although it is not lacking as accounted in the oral traditions of Philippine strategic culture, but it only needs to be codified, defined, and institutionalized to empower its existence and robustness. This is perhaps the silverlining in the West Philippine Sea crisis that has jolted the Philippine defense establishment out of stupor.
The aim of this policy brief is to discuss how the National Security Strategy (NSS) seeks to promote Philippine national security interests in the South China Sea (SCS). In particular, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: 1) How does the NSS perceive the regional security environment of the Indo-Asia-Pacific particularly, with respect to the SCS?; 2) How does the NSS articulate Philippine national security interests in the SCS and what are the identified courses of action to pursue such interests?; and 3) What are the challenges in promoting Philippine interests in the SCS?
The research presents an analysis of the process of attaining minimum credible defense through the assessment of the progress of the country’s naval modernization. The aim of the study is to assess the Philippine Navy (PN) Sail Plan 2030 under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization program, which in turn will be used as a component in analyzing the attainment of the minimum credible defense of the country. The assessment of naval military capability of the Philippines pertains to the actions and decisions taken by the government in naval force enhancement. Another agenda of the study is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies undertaken by the government in attaining minimum credible defense. Vital to the study was the analysis of government agency structures, actions and decisions in enhancing the navy and the problems encountered along the process and the consequences due to the implemented decisions. The primary question which the research aims to answer is ‘how has the Philippines attempted to attain a minimum credible defense through the modernization of the Navy?’ The term enhancement was operationalized by the process of modernization of navy in attaining minimum credible defense. The other term explicated is minimum credible defense through the definitions argued by different scholars. The process by which the questions were answered was through the assessment of the PN Sail Plan 2030 which included the examination of military enhancement policies, national budgeting, government transactions, navy enhancement policies and foreign policies. Qualities of naval equipment and vehicles were studied in relation to the budgets allocated which determined any accomplishment by the Philippine government in attaining minimum credible defense. Findings show that through undertaking the PN Sail Plan 2030, the Philippines aimed at refocusing its empowerment of the Army into reorganizing the entire military forces, balancing the priority for the Army, Navy and Airforce. However, agencies faced organizational, hierarchical, political and material acquisition complications. The success of the government in modernizing its navy has merely substandard results of a recent policy of the current administration wherein problems regarding strict implementation of rules and regulations, hierarchy, bureaucratic effectiveness and efficiency, government strength and consistency of policies from one administration to the next. This led for the researchers to conclude that the attainment of a minimum credible defense has been hampered by the influence of the inefficient implementation of the AFP Modernization.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/20122019-the-philippines-national-defense-strategy-analysis/
At eve of the 2018 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, European Council President Donald Tusk, in response to the criticisms from President Trump, reminded Washington to “appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many.” Tusk also called on Europe “spend more on your [defense], because everyone respects an ally that is well-prepared and equipped.” The same message is also true for the members of a network of alliances and partnerships—particularly for relatively smaller and weaker states, as well as their leaders—in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, a region facing immense foreign policy challenges against the backdrop of major powers competing for geopolitical preeminence. https://www.eurasiareview.com/03122018-alliance-partnerships-and-the-philippines-national-security-strategy-analysis/