Kenneth Bauzon

ABSTRACT The article seeks to explore the relevance of the Marxist perspective and, in particular, of neo-Marxism as an insurgent paradigm in dealing with the challenges posed by the post-Cold War period. In the process, and employing the paradigmatic approach, it seeks to clarify the origins and the presuppositions of neo-Marxism, its distinguishing features from orthodox Marxism, its methodological assumptions, its definition of problems, how it seeks to solve these problems, and critically identifies and assesses the tools with which it proposes to solve these problems. It further identifies its major practitioners, and assesses the nature and prospects of various movements -- both in Western and in Third World settings -- that have emerged in its name during the post-Cold War period claiming to inherit the mantle of Marxism.

ABSTRACT The essay explains the singular event of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in September 1972 through the lens of two competing paradigms of explanation: formal-legalism (or legalism), and, structural-functionalism (or functionalism). The respective basic postulates, definition of the problem, and solutions to the problem offered by each of these paradigms are examined, highlighting the work of the leading practitioners of each of these paradigms. Critique is then offered as to the adequacy of each of these paradigms in accounting for the phenomenon, or event, being explained, i.e., martial law in the Philippines. Implications are also drawn as to the broader viability of these paradigms in accounting for other phenomena in other settings and at other times. Typescript. Thesis (A.M.)--Duke University, 1978.

ABSTRACT This essay critically examines the theory and practice of neoliberalism in the United States (US) in the broader context of neoliberal globalization. The tragedy that befell several states in the southern part of the US occasioned by the successive visits of Category 5 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita commencing on August 29, 2005 provides an opportunity to examine whether this tragedy may be attributed solely to these natural phenomena, or whether there were human factors -- human decisions and actions or lack thereof -- that aggravated the situation before, during, and after the hurricanes struck. It is offered here that significant human factors, conditioned by neoliberal policies, practices, and motives on the part of individuals whose role and decision making capacity in government were crucial to the making of this tragedy, much of it preventable.

Critical appraisal of the contributions and directions of major competing theories of development and underdevelopment in the Third World: Modernization theory, Development ethicist theory, Dependency theory, and Neo-Marxist theory, highlighting the works of major practitioners in each paradigm.

The essay explains the singular event of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in September 1972 through the lens of two competing paradigms of explanation: formal-legalism (or legalism), and, structural-functionalism (or functionalism). The respective basic postulates, definition of the problem, and solutions to the problem offered by each of these paradigms are examined, highlighting the work of the leading practitioners of each of these paradigms. Critique is then offered as to the adequacy of each of these paradigms in accounting for the phenomenon, or event, being explained, i.e., martial law in the Philippines. Implications are also drawn as to the broader viability of these paradigms in accounting for other phenomena in other settings and at other times. Typescript. Thesis (A.M.)--Duke University, 1978.

An opinion piece, it clarifies among the popular audience a brief account of the history of the social construction of discrimination towards members of the LGBTQ community, the consequences of the conflation of religious faith -- as the dominant, historical source of the definition of marriage -- with public policy, and to raise the case that the movement towards expanded political and civil rights to now include the LGBTQ community must be seen as part of the comprehensive struggle for human liberation particularly directed against the forces of neocolonialism, manifested contemporarily by neoliberalism, which have thrived through the maintenance of oppressive patriarchal, authoritarian institutions.

Part of a larger monograph in progress, what follows may be described broadly as an explanation on explanation. More specifically, it seeks to explain how a dominant perspective or paradigm of explanation has sought to define and describe the phenomenon of secessionism and as a problem within the formal-legalist paradigm. But this essay will not delve so much directly into the empirical conditions that come to play in the process of secession but, rather, on how the practitioners of the formal-legalist paradigm describe these conditions, how they define secession itself as a problem, and how they propose to solve it, all within the logic of their paradigm. In the process, this essay will attempt to reconstruct the formalist worldview with the end in mind of laying bare the practitioners’ fundamental presuppositions and problems therein. An assumption taken here is that it is only in the context of these presuppositions could the practitioners render comprehensible and meaningful occ...

The relationship between civilian and military authorities in presumably liberal democratic societies has been the subject ofresearch and discussion in much ofacademic conferences and literature. The prevailing assumption has been that civilian authorities predominate over their military counterparts, with the latter serving as obedient recipient of instructions and orders from the former, including laws enacted by an elected civilian legislature. Many examples have been ofered as examples particularly since the end of the Second World War, pointing implicitly to the presumed underlying superiority ofthe liberal democratic system over competing alternative systems. The Zionist State of Israel has been offered as one such example wherein proponents, in facL claim this state to be the only democracy in the whole of the Middle East region. I Problems with this thesis, as illustrated in the specific example of the Zionist State of Israel, will be pointed out in this brief commentary. Researchers often ignore the hegemonizing and harmonizing role of ideology, in this case, Zionism, which makes the distinction between civilian and mititary lines of authority irrelevant. Thus, these researchers often miss the significance of the alternation between military and civilian roles, and the mutual dependence and support that civilian and military authorities require of each other. In the case of the Zionist State, many civilian authorities have come from the ranks ofthe military while the latter, in its turn, has had a not-so insignificant role in the formulation and implementation of policies at every stage ofthe state's growth and expansion. Indeed, even before and since its birttu this state has relied on the services of leaders of Zionist militias, e.g., Haganah, hgun, Stem Gang,

A Review Essay on two books by iconic Filipino writer Carlos Bulosan, both edited by Prof. E. San Juan, Jr. , the first, historical novel, and, the second, a collection of his writings, namely: The Cry and the Dedication, A Novel, Edited with an Introduction by E. San Juan, Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1995), 305 pp.; and, On Becoming Filipino; Selected Writings, Edited with an Introduction by E. San Juan, Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1995), 221 pp. The Review Essay was first delivered at the launching of the Carlos Bulosan Heritage Center, Queens Public Library, Elmhurst, New York, October 30, 2004.

Religious experience  is a dimension of human experience which deals with the interpretation of concrete events according to evaluative categories. This is rooted in the essence of religion itself whose task is to provide an explanation of nature comprehensible to an individual or a collectivity in terms of the meaning it provides. Thus, religious experience is distinguishable from scientific experience in that, while both depart from and interpret concrete events, their purposes vary. The former aims to reach a higher mystic state the attainment of which symbolically unites  the individual or the collectivity with the environment whereas the latter bifurcates the two by regarding mind and matter separate.
          The task of the following discussion is to elaborate on this religious perception. Accordingly, an effort shall be made to define the categories of knowledge and method in Islam, those in Philippine Islam in particular. In this regard, the nature of religious experience shall be explored and defined in the context of contemporary efforts by Filipino Muslims (or Moros) to search for a "national" identity and, in addition, the experience of the Ummah in Philippine history shall be traced.
          This discussion should particularly be surprising and  insightful to those who tend to regard Islam as rigid or unyielding particularly with regard to the commonly misused and misunderstood concept of jihad, which means also intellectual exertion, not simply physical. If one were to engage in a play in words and reversed the title of this piece to read "Secular Experience in the Formation of the United States Empire", and examine the role of force and violence -- including torture -- in this process from the beginning to this day, one might have a more somber view towards Islam.

The article explores the question of whether Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a libertarian or a totalitarian and, in the process, hopes to bring some clarity to much of the apparent confusion in the literature on the question. As one of the 18th century social contract theorists emerging from the Enlightenment movement, he was most well-known for his promotion of the general will which advocates contended showed his inclination towards popular and democratic governance. On the other hand, critics point to the absolutist tendency that accompanies membership once an individual consents to be part of the community. This essay explores the terms for each of these tendencies, the context in which Rousseau offered his solutions, and the temperament of the times in which Rousseau lived, including Rousseau's own personal temperament that no doubt affected his dispositions.

The essay critically examines the basic assumptions of the dominant conservative and liberal paradigms that purport to account for multiculturalism and diversity in the United States. Some of their respective leading proponents, along with their works, would be surveyed in an effort to understand their attitudes, fears, and rationale for the kind of policies that they advocate. This will be followed by a discussion of an alternative paradigm, generally ignored and minimized by mainstream academia and media, herein referred to as structuralism, whose assumptions about the nature of society, its problems and the solutions proffered differ substantially if not radically from those of conservatism and liberalism. To provide context, demographic data – principally from the Bureau of Census – is deemed offered.

This essay critically examines the theory and practice of neoliberalism in the United States (US) in the broader context of neoliberal globalization. The tragedy that befell several states in the southern part of the US occasioned by the successive visits of Category 5 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita commencing on August 29, 2005 provides an opportunity to examine whether this tragedy may be attributed solely to these natural phenomena, or whether there were human factors -- human decisions and actions or lack thereof -- that aggravated the situation before, during, and after the hurricanes struck. It is offered here that significant human factors, conditioned by neoliberal policies, practices, and motives on the part of individuals whose role and decision making capacity in government were crucial to the making of this tragedy, much of it preventable.

The theoretical lead chapter in the book, Liberalism and the Quest for Islamic Identity in the Philippines, it traces the growth and development of the sub-discipline of political sociology from its Enlightenment roots through positivism of the 19th century and to the contemporary contention behavioralists and post-behavioralists, highlighting and critically assessing these paradigms on their respective explanation about society, the state, the individual, the nature social knowledge, the role of science in discovering it, and the possibility of commensurability between and among paradigms.

The emergence of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 into the world arena altered fundamentally the character of the international balance of forces.  With a tradition of revolution and imbued with a socialist ideology, the PRC was bound to translate its national struggle into an international one consistent with its newly-found role as an actor in the international political process. Inherent in this struggle is the use of force, in its latent or manifest forms, designed to help attain a desired state of conditions at a particular point in time.

This essay attempts to achieve four things: (a) to examine the rationale behind the PRC's use of force in international relations; (b) to identify the goals which it aims to achieve; (c) to review the strategies with which it seeks to pursue these goals; and, (d) to gain insight into the PRC's capabilities to achieve its goals. Explanation of the above necessitates a discussion of the relevant issues which have been prominent in Chinese political and military thinking. Because of the complexity and diversity of the issues involved, it is necessary to narrow the concern of this piece to the following broad issues. Under (a) we shall touch on the traditional and ideological bases of the use of force. Under (b) we shall deal with some long- and short-term goals pertinent to its security. While these goals are necessarily oriented to its ideology, the long-term goals are distinct in that their attainment lies in an indeterminate future while the short-term goals are more directly related to the PRC's immediate needs. Thus, this section, while stressing the role of ideology, focuses also on the PRC's perception of its “enemy” and how it proposes to deal with it. And, under (c) we shall examine the PRC's notion on (1) nuclear, conventional, and unconventional warfare; (2) deterrence; (3) proliferation; and (4) arms control. In this section, we shall also touch on the question of reconcilability between the PRC's ideology and the pragmatic approaches it has taken in coping with present-day realities.

The essay explains the singular event of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in September 1972 through the lens of two competing paradigms of explanation: formal-legalism (or legalism), and, structural-functionalism (or functionalism). The respective basic postulates, definition of the problem, and solutions to the problem offered by each of these paradigms are examined, highlighting the work of the leading practitioners of each of these paradigms. Critique is then offered as to the adequacy of each of these paradigms in accounting for the phenomenon, or event, being explained, i.e., martial law in the Philippines. Implications are also drawn as to the broader viability of these paradigms in accounting for other phenomena in other settings and at other times.