Foreword

Summary

This interpretative study of the Philippines is the second publication in the Southeast Asia “State of the Nation” Monograph Series. The series is introduced by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies as essays to honour the memory of Professor K. S. Sandhu who was Director of the Institute from 1972 to 1992.

The purpose of the series is to make available concise studies of the state of the nation in each of the countries of Southeast Asia, taking into account the political, economic and social forces that have shaped them. They will be presented in the form of interpretative essays that examine events in the immediate past, explain current developments and offer an educated reading of how key issues are evolving.

As the region grows and progresses at an amazingly rapid pace, Southeast Asians are in danger of being locked in outmoded and outdated views of each other. While each of the countries is fast acquiring the status of newly-industrializing economies in the 1980s and 1990s, our knowledge and understanding may be based on stereotypes from the post-colonial transformation. We may end up neglecting many of the significant new issues in our societies that may well determine questions of stability and prosperity in the future. Worse, we may not be grasping and understanding the social, political and economic reality that is unfolding.

This series is aimed not only at the regional audience. It is also for an international readership. The monographs are not intended to give a blow-by-blow account of contemporary developments, much of which is already fairly well-documented, but rather to provide a thoughtful overview of the significant political, economic and social developments that have shaped the individual states over the last two decades. Each monograph will be published as and when it is completed. On completion of the country monographs, the Institute will present the individual monographs and finally as a bound collection.