Sol Iglesias, Ph.D.
sriglesias@up.edu.ph
Assistant Professor
University of the Philippines
Year of PhD: 2018
Address: University of the Philippines
City: Diliman Quezon City
Country: Philippines
About Me:
Sol Iglesias is an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines. She has a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies and a M.A. in Political Science from the National University of Singapore as well as a M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines. She is a member of the New Mandala editorial advisory board and a convener of Women in Southeast Asian Social Sciences. She was the Inagural Scholar-in-Residence of the Justince in Southeast Asia Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2023. She was selected as an American Political Science Association (APSA) Asia Program Fellow in 2021, as an emerging scholar on democracy and autocracy by the APSA Democracy and Autocracy Committee in 2020, and Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG) Fellow in 2017. She was the first female, first Asian, and first Filipino director of Political and Economic affairs at the Asia-Europe Foundation in Singapore. She has published extensively on political violence in the Philippines and Philippine politics.
Research Interests
Philippines
Human Rights
Political Violence
Elections
Countries of Interest
Philippines
My Research:
I am currently writing a book, How a Weak State Governs: The Dynamics of Political Violence in the Philippines. Why does political violence persist in post-colonial, developing states? The extent to which states shape society, or social forces constrain the state, has been the crux of state strength versus state weakness in the literature. States are weak if they are unable to establish their predominance over networks of local strongmen and other powerful influences outside the central state, whereas certain social structures with highly centralized institutions make strong states. I argue that a weak state’s capacity for violence is oriented towards assuring itself primacy, if not monopoly, over the use of force. Regulation is a strategic goal that drives a weak state to strengthen its autonomy while managing the constraints imposed by particularistic interests of powerful elites. Using new and unused source material in a novel dataset of violence in the Philippines, I account for relative shifts in the use of violence, rather than absolute increases or decreases in the levels of violence.
Media Appearances:
TV Appearances:
This in-depth documentary asks: With a feud brewing between the Marcos and Duterte clans, what does this signal for a long-awaited investigation by the International Criminal Court, which has so far been stonewalled by President Marcos? I comment on the national "war on drugs", the Davao Death Squad where ex-President Rodrigo Duterte was mayor, and the potential for International Criminal Court investigations into extra-judicial killings to deliver justice to the drug war victims as the Dutertes' alliance with the incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. crumbles.
As the #Philippines head to the polls next Monday, what's driving support for the son of ex-dictator #Marcos? @soliglesias speaks to FRANCE 24 on what hangs in the balance
"Duterte has targeted other women who have gone against his regime and fought for democracy." @soliglesias in France 24 Debate
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the namesake son of an ousted dictator, praised his father's legacy and glossed over its violent past as he was sworn in as Philippine president after a stunning election victory that opponents say was pulled off by whitewashing his family’s image. His rise to power, 36 years after an army-backed “People Power” revolt booted his father from office and into global infamy, upends politics in the Asian democracy, where a public holiday, monuments and the Philippine Constitution stand as reminders of the end of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s tyrannical rule. For more analysis on Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s stunning rise to power, FRANCE 24 is joined by Dr. Sol Iglesias, Author and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines. "He is really portraying himself, not just as a continuity figure," explains Dr. Iglesias, "but very much that myth of a golden age that he's hitching his wagon to when it comes to his father's brutal dictatorship."
Radio Appearances:
On ABC Radio Australia yesterday, speaking to Indira Naidoo about the Philippine elections https://abc.net.au/radio/programs/nightlife/nightlife/13794652
Newspaper Quotes:
The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte defended his so-called war on drugs in testimony before the country’s Senate on October 28, 2024. Excerpts: Referring to Mr. Duterte, Sol Iglesias, an assistant professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, said, “He can’t remain silent any longer, now that all of these accusations have been rolling on and he hasn’t really been engaging.” “We’re now seeing him at probably his weakest point in his political career,” she added. She said the details of the antidrug campaign “are now finally being given an air of credibility that isn’t being drowned out by a very powerful president or silenced by a system that conducted the worst of the violence.”
The death toll may not be as high as under Duterte. But as political scientist & UP assistant prof @soliglesias tells Rappler, the “biggest complicity” of Marcos admin is institutionalizing impunity as it continues to shield Duterte from accountability.
Hundreds killed in drug war during Marcos’ 1st year--Political scientist @soliglesias said the lack of other important info from the Philippine National Police “just raises more questions than it answers.” Marcos admin may be continuing the lack of transparency of Duterte era, “or perhaps it is being even more opaque.”
Philippine Presidential Election Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Is Bound for Presidency of the Philippines: “This is a dashing of the hopes that there will be a U-turn away from the backsliding toward authoritarian rule that was begun by President Duterte.”