Papers by Robin Michael Garcia
Neoliberalism in the Philippines came at a time when the country was considered the “Sick Man of ... more Neoliberalism in the Philippines came at a time when the country was considered the “Sick Man of Asia” and during the immediate decade of the post-Cold War. This article provides a partial explanation why more neoliberal forms of governance were adopted during the Ramos Administration. Using an ideational approach in the political economy of public policy and governance reforms, the article traces how neoliberal governance gained acceptance in the Philippines. It argues that through a three-level reform process, the confluence of exogenous and endogenous factors, as well as the “epistemic privileged” status of neoliberalism during that time led to the demise of the Keynesian state-led governance model and the eventual acceptance of the market-led neoliberal governance model.
ADRi Ocasional Papers, 2020
Describing a country’s foreign policy towards rising powers is a
crucial puzzle that should adequ... more Describing a country’s foreign policy towards rising powers is a
crucial puzzle that should adequately be tackled to aid in practical
foreign policy-making during uncertainty. This research concerns
itself with this problem specifically in the context of the presidency
of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines who unraveled the previous
leadership’s policy towards China. The central argument in this
research is that the most accurate label to describe Philippine
foreign policy towards China under the Duterte administration is
that of accommodation—an alignment strategy involving either
asymmetrical concessions or the toleration of actions that may not
necessarily be in the interest of the weaker state for the purpose
of inducing cooperation and stability.
This directly challenges the notion that the Philippines has
pursued a foreign policy of hedging by presenting a definition of
hedging as “strategic ambiguity” based on the balance of power
literature in the field of international relations. President Duterte
has in fact demonstrated clarity about his intentions as well
actions towards China at the expense of the United States in
three areas: discourse, foreign direct investments and alliance
management for security. Hedging has been used as the
theoretical defense to the country’s “independent foreign policy”
slogan. However Philippine accommodation policy where the
country has pursued a) a state-sponsored policy of openness
towards Chinese foreign direct investments, b) a deliberate
weakening of the security alliance with the United States, c) the
condoning of China’s militarization and encroachment of
territories that the Philippines also has claim, weakens the
argument that the Philippines has pursued independence in
maneuvering great power politics in Southeast Asia.
China Studies in the Philippines: Intellectual Paths and the Formation of a Field edited by Tina S. Clemente and Chih-yu Shih, 2019
Philippine Journal of Public Administration Volume 56 Issue 2, 2012
Neoliberalism in the Philippines came at a time when the country was considered the “Sick Man of ... more Neoliberalism in the Philippines came at a time when the country was considered the “Sick Man of Asia” and during the immediate decade of the post-Cold War. This paper provides a partial explanation why more neoliberal forms of governance were adopted during the Ramos Administration. Using an ideational approach in the political economy of public policy and governance reforms, the paper traces how neoliberal governance gained acceptance in the Philippines. It argues that through a three-step reform process, the confluence of exogenous and endogenous factors, as well as the “epistemic privileged” status of neoliberalism during that time led to the demise of the Keynesian state-led governance model and the eventual acceptance of the market-led neoliberal governance model.
Doctoral Dissertation by Robin Michael Garcia
What explains divergence in the acceptance of international economic norms in similar domestic co... more What explains divergence in the acceptance of international economic norms in similar domestic contexts? I argue that to answer this question, we must ask a more fundamental one: Why are some norm entrepreneurs, such as epistemic communities, more persuasive than others? This question is important because the variation or extent of social learning and domestic institutional change is greatly influenced by the ability of international norms to be persuasive. I take the case of Southeast Asia begin and begin with this question: why has domestic institutional change towards liberalization more extensive in the Philippines than in Thailand? I find that materialist theories are insufficient and find that an ideational question best answer the question. Thus, the question is: why have the rhetorical acts of the neoliberal epistemic community in the Philippines been more persuasive than the neoliberal epistemic community in Thailand? Thai and Filipino political economy have heavily featured technocrats or “governmental” epistemic communities in economic policymaking and the value-orientation of these important groups have observably been western-oriented having been educated or worked in western knowledge-based or developmental institutions. To the extent that these groups have been socialized with western economic knowledge, they are prime carriers and primary “rhetors” of liberal economic knowledge in domestic contexts.
I present a theory of the spread of international economic norms in international relations that focus on the discursive activities of epistemic communities to enable decisionmaker learning towards domestic institutional change. The heart of my theory is centered on the three pillars of Aristotelian persuasion strategy: ethos, pathos, logos but I particularly focus on an under theorized role for emotions (pathos). Based on affective neuroscience, recent experimental studies in organizational studies, the turn of emotion-based theories in international relations and political science as well as original field work and archival research that serve as causal mechanisms, my overarching argument is this: that the diverging levels of persuasion by epistemic communities in the two countries have been primarily caused by the diverging patterns of the uses of “pisteis” or modes of rhetorical persuasion or strategies. More specifically, logos or the strategy of appeal to logic and ethos or appeals to common norms is insufficient. On the other hand, the strategy of pathos or appeals to emotion catches policymakers’ attention and enables norm diffusion and institutional change. This dissertation argues thus that the type, combination and order of rhetorical appeals are all crucial. The case of the Philippines and Thailand provides an important demonstration of this theory. Thai epistemic communities based their strategy only on logos while Filipino epistemic community used both logos and ethos which enabled them to be successful. This theory has wide ranging consequences for the literature on international relations and comparative international political economy. The theory applies to these two cases but can also “travel” to other cases and contexts.
Think Pieces by Robin Michael Garcia
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Papers by Robin Michael Garcia
crucial puzzle that should adequately be tackled to aid in practical
foreign policy-making during uncertainty. This research concerns
itself with this problem specifically in the context of the presidency
of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines who unraveled the previous
leadership’s policy towards China. The central argument in this
research is that the most accurate label to describe Philippine
foreign policy towards China under the Duterte administration is
that of accommodation—an alignment strategy involving either
asymmetrical concessions or the toleration of actions that may not
necessarily be in the interest of the weaker state for the purpose
of inducing cooperation and stability.
This directly challenges the notion that the Philippines has
pursued a foreign policy of hedging by presenting a definition of
hedging as “strategic ambiguity” based on the balance of power
literature in the field of international relations. President Duterte
has in fact demonstrated clarity about his intentions as well
actions towards China at the expense of the United States in
three areas: discourse, foreign direct investments and alliance
management for security. Hedging has been used as the
theoretical defense to the country’s “independent foreign policy”
slogan. However Philippine accommodation policy where the
country has pursued a) a state-sponsored policy of openness
towards Chinese foreign direct investments, b) a deliberate
weakening of the security alliance with the United States, c) the
condoning of China’s militarization and encroachment of
territories that the Philippines also has claim, weakens the
argument that the Philippines has pursued independence in
maneuvering great power politics in Southeast Asia.
Doctoral Dissertation by Robin Michael Garcia
I present a theory of the spread of international economic norms in international relations that focus on the discursive activities of epistemic communities to enable decisionmaker learning towards domestic institutional change. The heart of my theory is centered on the three pillars of Aristotelian persuasion strategy: ethos, pathos, logos but I particularly focus on an under theorized role for emotions (pathos). Based on affective neuroscience, recent experimental studies in organizational studies, the turn of emotion-based theories in international relations and political science as well as original field work and archival research that serve as causal mechanisms, my overarching argument is this: that the diverging levels of persuasion by epistemic communities in the two countries have been primarily caused by the diverging patterns of the uses of “pisteis” or modes of rhetorical persuasion or strategies. More specifically, logos or the strategy of appeal to logic and ethos or appeals to common norms is insufficient. On the other hand, the strategy of pathos or appeals to emotion catches policymakers’ attention and enables norm diffusion and institutional change. This dissertation argues thus that the type, combination and order of rhetorical appeals are all crucial. The case of the Philippines and Thailand provides an important demonstration of this theory. Thai epistemic communities based their strategy only on logos while Filipino epistemic community used both logos and ethos which enabled them to be successful. This theory has wide ranging consequences for the literature on international relations and comparative international political economy. The theory applies to these two cases but can also “travel” to other cases and contexts.
Think Pieces by Robin Michael Garcia
crucial puzzle that should adequately be tackled to aid in practical
foreign policy-making during uncertainty. This research concerns
itself with this problem specifically in the context of the presidency
of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines who unraveled the previous
leadership’s policy towards China. The central argument in this
research is that the most accurate label to describe Philippine
foreign policy towards China under the Duterte administration is
that of accommodation—an alignment strategy involving either
asymmetrical concessions or the toleration of actions that may not
necessarily be in the interest of the weaker state for the purpose
of inducing cooperation and stability.
This directly challenges the notion that the Philippines has
pursued a foreign policy of hedging by presenting a definition of
hedging as “strategic ambiguity” based on the balance of power
literature in the field of international relations. President Duterte
has in fact demonstrated clarity about his intentions as well
actions towards China at the expense of the United States in
three areas: discourse, foreign direct investments and alliance
management for security. Hedging has been used as the
theoretical defense to the country’s “independent foreign policy”
slogan. However Philippine accommodation policy where the
country has pursued a) a state-sponsored policy of openness
towards Chinese foreign direct investments, b) a deliberate
weakening of the security alliance with the United States, c) the
condoning of China’s militarization and encroachment of
territories that the Philippines also has claim, weakens the
argument that the Philippines has pursued independence in
maneuvering great power politics in Southeast Asia.
I present a theory of the spread of international economic norms in international relations that focus on the discursive activities of epistemic communities to enable decisionmaker learning towards domestic institutional change. The heart of my theory is centered on the three pillars of Aristotelian persuasion strategy: ethos, pathos, logos but I particularly focus on an under theorized role for emotions (pathos). Based on affective neuroscience, recent experimental studies in organizational studies, the turn of emotion-based theories in international relations and political science as well as original field work and archival research that serve as causal mechanisms, my overarching argument is this: that the diverging levels of persuasion by epistemic communities in the two countries have been primarily caused by the diverging patterns of the uses of “pisteis” or modes of rhetorical persuasion or strategies. More specifically, logos or the strategy of appeal to logic and ethos or appeals to common norms is insufficient. On the other hand, the strategy of pathos or appeals to emotion catches policymakers’ attention and enables norm diffusion and institutional change. This dissertation argues thus that the type, combination and order of rhetorical appeals are all crucial. The case of the Philippines and Thailand provides an important demonstration of this theory. Thai epistemic communities based their strategy only on logos while Filipino epistemic community used both logos and ethos which enabled them to be successful. This theory has wide ranging consequences for the literature on international relations and comparative international political economy. The theory applies to these two cases but can also “travel” to other cases and contexts.