Rodrigo Duterte, Ultimate Realist?

By Harry Kazianis

In the pages of Foreign Policy last week, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Max Boot weighed in on the frightening moves of what many are calling Asia’s Donald Trump -- the new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. In his analysis, Boot attacks the underpinnings of realist foreign policy thinking, using Duterte’s recent actions as his strawman. He notes that “ideology and domestic politics do not much concern these thinkers [realists]; they believe that a nation’s foreign policy is much more likely to be shaped by factors such as geography, demography, and economics.” ......To Read More...