Christopher Ryan Maboloc’s Analysis of Contemporary Philippine Politics
Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc is a prominent and well-cited contemporary philosopher in the Philippines. An Associate Professor at the Ateneo de Davao University and a fellow of the ASAP Yale Global Justice Program, Maboloc has carved out a unique space in Asian philosophy by shifting the academic gaze away from Eurocentric ideals and anchoring it firmly in the lived realities of the Global South—specifically the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Maboloc’s philosophical contributions span political philosophy, applied ethics, environmental thought, and radical democracy. Maboloc is perhaps best known for his philosophical analysis of contemporary Philippine politics, most notably during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. In books like Radical Democracy in the Time of Duterte and The Davao School of Radical Democracy, Maboloc challenges mainstream, Western-style liberal interpretations of populism. He argues that post-1986 Philippine democracy (the po...