Philippine Foreign Policy Changes

The changes of foreign policy directives of the Philippines towards its alliance with the United States of America in 1991,and in 2014 are interesting cases to analyze.The United States was forced to move out of the Philippines after the Mt.Pinatubo eruption in 1991,while Washington signed a defense agreement,the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement(EDCA)with Manila to have a rotational presence in Philippine military bases after typhoon Haiyan in 2014.Using foreign policy analysis,specifically by tapping the influence of domestic and external factors on Manila's foreign policy decision making,the research would explain why the Philippines opted not to ratify another treaty for the maintenance of the US bases in 1991,while allowing the US to use Philippine military bases in 2014 through the EDCA.Though given similar disaster circumstances,the disaster itself have only short-term significance in the decision making process.In 1991,the impact of the end of the Cold War(external environment)together with the growing Filipino nationalist sentiments(domestic environment)had influenced the Philippines to deny the US a continued presence of its military base.Meanwhile,the US pivot to Asia in 2011(external environment),and Aquino's military modernization to shift its focus from internal security to territorial defense(domestic environment)have influenced the Philippines decision to allow the US to have a presence once again in Philippine military bases.In the end,the research has concluded that Philippine Foreign Policy is reactive in the changes in the interest of the Philippines as prompted by the influences of domestic and external environments.In chapter 1,the background of the research is discussed from a chronological point of view,discussing first the location of the Philippines,and the events of the Mt Pinatubo eruption and typhoon Haiyan.Likewise it discusses the history of the alliance between the Philippines and the United States.In chapter 1,the reader would also find the significance of the study emphasizing on practical and theoretical significance.The study dwells on practical significance by tapping the disaster factor,as an agent that can influence security relations between two countries.The disaster diplomacy framework which states that disasters catalyzes negotiations among conflicting parties gives light to the notion that disaster do affect certain negotiations in the short term given that there is a preexisting basis for such negotiations.In the same way,the study gains theoretical significance by looking into the interchange of both external and domestic factors in determining a certain foreign policy outcome.The thesis statement,scope and limitation,research methodology,and research questions can also be found in Chapter 1.Chapter 2 includes the review of related literature and the theoretical framework as well as the conceptual framework of the thesis.The research did a thematic form of literature review in which the author selected several themes that are related to the study,these themes are as follows: disaster diplomacy,US-Philippines relations,alliances,and external and domestic influences on foreign policy.These themes are related to the topic of the research in a way that they talk about vital points of interest that are related to the topic.In the theoretical framework,the research uses Charles Hermann's(1990)model of foreign policy changes.The study would utilize this model in a way to explain the intertwining of external and domestic factors in answering the research question.The study would argue that despite the similarity of a disaster background,the US pulled back its troops after Mt.Pinatubo eruption,and then went back to the Philippine bases after typhoon Haiyan because the different interest at those times of the Philippines were a manifestations of a change in foreign policy caused by external shocks(the end of the Cold War,and US Pivot to Asia),and domestic influences(bureaucratic advocacy,and leader driven).In the conceptual framework,it is explained how the theoretical framework would apply and interact with the dependent and independent variable of the study.the interest of the Philippines will serve as an independent variable,in which the foreign policy decision of evicting the US base on 1991,and signing the EDCA on 2014 were dependent on.The influence of external and domestic environments serves as an intervening factor that influences the foreign policy decision of the Philippines to pursue its interest during those times.Chapter 3 details and explains the events leading to the eviction of the US troops in Subic Bay.It explains how the end of the Cold War,and the Senate decision interacted with each other resulting to the removal of US troops in the Philippines.This chapter will consist of four sub-chapters.First would be a specific explanation of the bases dilemma the United States have after the end of the Cold War,and how that dilemma affected its negotiation with the Philippines regarding the retention of the base in Subic Bay.The second sub-chapter would detail how Filipino nationalist movements lobbied in the senate and affected the senator to vote against another treaty for retaining the American base in Subic Bay.The third sub-chapter would elaborate how the events of Mt.Pinatubo eruption affected the negotiation process between the United States and the Philippines.The last sub-chapter would expound on how the external and domestic factors interacted with each other and played a role in the decision of the Philippines to remove the United States from Subic Bay.Chapter 4 discusses and explains the events leading to the signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement(EDCA)in 2014.It details how the external factor of the US Pivot to Asia policy,and the domestic leadership factor of former Philippine President Benigno Aquino towards modernizing the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP)interacted with each other and eventually leads to the EDCA.It is divided into five sub-chapters.The first sub-chapter tackles the Pivot to Asia policy of the US,and the EDCA.The second sub-chapter talks about the domestic opposition in the Philippines to EDCA,especially the opposition coming from the Philippine Senate.The third sub-chapter discusses President Benigno Aquino's decision to push through with EDCA even without Senate support.The fourth sub-chapter explains the reason behind Aquino's support for EDCA which mainly because of military modernization and a better disaster management response.The fifth and last sub-chapter explains all in all,how these external and domestic factors interacted with each other,specifically how they benefited from each other which resulted to EDCA.Chapter 5 includes the conclusions and recommendations of the thesis.The thesis concluded that foreign policy decision changes in the Philippines when the national interest of the country also changes.The decision to evict the United States in 1991,despite being a treaty ally,was because the interest of the Philippines during those time leaning towards anti bases sentiments,meanwhile the decision in 2014 to accept the EDCA,an agreement that is by far the closest to a full blown return of US troops in the Philippines was also because it is in the interest of the Philippines to have such an agreement to help modernize the military.The external and domestic influences to these decisions,in a way legitimize the interests of the Philippines in a very specific way.The recommendations this thesis presented are divided into policy and theoretical ones in which the former stresses the need for the Philippines to review its security relations with the US,and the latter stresses the need for more scholarly works on how external and domestic influence affects asymmetrical alliances such as the alliance between the US and the Philippines.