President Duterte’s bicephalous leadership: Populist at home – pragmatic abroad

Abstract

Rodrigo Duterte won the Philippines’ 2016 presidential elections thanks to a well-orchestrated campaign and his populist appeal among Filipinos. Soon after he assumed the presidency, he surprised and upset most of his domestic and western international audiences by pragmatically rejecting the pro-Western approach followed by the previous Aquino administration and adopting a China-friendly one. Adopting Critical Discourse Analysis, this research reveals President Duterte’s bicephalous leadership: populist in domestic policies, and pragmatic but unpopular in foreign relations. To qualitatively describe the dichotomy between the populist and pragmatic nature of Duterte’s leadership, this article surveys the Philippines’ mainstream media from 2016 to 2019. Furthermore, this analysis shows that Duterte is using a defensive neorealist approach in building Philippines-China relations and that Filipinos are willing to consider China as a constructive partner for their country.