Duterte’s Immigration Agreement with China: Subversion by Numbers

Posted on by admin

Journal of Political Risk, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 2018 

Demetrius Cox

Analyst and Consultant

A PLA Air Force (PLAAF) military transport plane (IL-76) is photographed leaving the airstrip.

A PLA Air Force (PLAAF) military transport plane (IL-76) in Davao City on 8 June 2018. Source: Philippine Plane Spotters Group (PPSG).

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

On June 9, 2018 the Philippine Star published an article titled “More than 3 million Chinese allowed entry into Philippines since 2016 — Immigration data”.

In what may become one of the most remarkable subversions in recent history, the article describes how the immigration floodgates have been thrown open by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.  With a current national population of 103 million, Duterte has allowed a 3% direct population increase (3+ million) of Chinese immigrants to the Republic of the Philippines in less than three years, which is enough to keep most demographers up at night.  And there is no end in sight.

Continue reading →

Trade Strategy is a Proper Part of National Security

Posted on by admin

Journal of Political Risk, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 2018 

A ship, the Emerald Princess, is photographed crossing the new Cocoli Locks of the Panama Canal expansion in Panama City.

Emerald Princess crosses the new Cocoli Locks of the Panama Canal expansion in Panama City. A giant Chinese-chartered freighter nudged its way into the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday to mark the completion of nearly a decade of work forecast to boost global trade. Source: Craig Stanfill via Flickr.

William R. Hawkins

International Economics and National Security Consultant

On June 4, the Koch brothers (Charles and David) announced the launch of a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar” campaign against the tariffs and trade restrictions imposed by the Trump administration; especially those levied on China. The billionaire brothers are regularly called “conservatives” because they make large campaign donations to Republican candidates. But they are not conservatives; they are libertarians, a very different breed of cat. And their donations to the GOP are meant to sway the party in their ideological direction, not merely support it. The liberal media tries to tarnish conservatism by placing libertarians on “the Right” even though this is not their intellectual origin. This is done to further the left-wing narrative that “conservatives” are self-interested, greedy individuals who are enemies of organized society and the common good. This is true for libertarians, who doubt the very legitimacy of the nation-state or the “higher” norms of society. Too often they define right and wrong on the basis of whether it turns a profit.

Continue reading →

Legislatures Elected by Evaluative Proportional Representation (EPR): An Algorithm

Posted on by admin

Journal of Political Risk, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 2018 

A person in a work shirt is photographed from above looking at documents. The person's face is not visible, only their hands, arms, and part of their chest. A corner of a laptop keyboard is also visible in the bottom right corner.

Illustration of grading. Source: Pexels.

Steve Bosworth and Anders Corr1

Abstract

This article describes a new and relatively simple evaluative method to elect all the members in any legislative body, such as a city council or national legislature.2 Called Evaluative Proportional Representation (EPR), each voter grades any number of candidates on their fitness for office as EXCELLENT, VERY GOOD, GOOD, ACCEPTABLE, POOR, or REJECT.  These evaluations are counted by hand or computer algorithm (here provided in the R statistical computer language).  This evaluative method of social choice is particularly good at revealing and optimizing voters’ utilities.  It ensures proportionate minority representation in legislative bodies by enabling each voter to guarantee that his or her evaluations of the candidates will continue fully to count in the deliberations and decisions made by their elected legislative body.  Each elected member of this body is given a different weighted vote as determined by counting all voters’ evaluations. As a result, each citizen’s vote continues to count within the weighted vote given to the elected member she most highly values.

Note: An updated version of this article is available at: https://www.jpolrisk.com/legislatures-elected-by-evaluative-proportional-representation-epr-an-algorithm-v2/

Continue reading →

Teaching a Tunisian to Fish: An Animating Way to Wield US Soft Power

Posted on by admin

Journal of Political Risk, Vol. 7, No. 5, May 2018

Two camels (one behind the other) are photographed sitting down in the desert. Both have saddles on.

Source: Creative Commons via Pixabay.

Bhakti Mirchandani

Co-founder of the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards

Economic statecraft, the use of economic instruments to accomplish geopolitical objectives, dates back to the Louisiana Purchase.  American Enterprise Funds, first established by USAID following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Former Soviet Union, and the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund, launched in 2013, are two examples of both economic statecraft and powerful impact investing tools.  This article provides a window into the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund’s investments, purpose, progress, strategy, and place in US foreign policy.

Continue reading →

Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan

Posted on by admin

Journal of Political Risk, Vol. 6, No. 5, May 2018

A screenshot of a Facebook post. A cropped photo of Jason Pegg's bloodied arm is in the background with the following text in the foreground: "11 years ago today (31MAY2005) outside of a village I cannot spell in Afghanistan, Jonny Jihad and his band of heathens tries to take my life with an IED.While they got my arm, I am fortunate that I was able to pass it out worse than I got it.#NotTodayTommyTaliban"

A cropped photo of Jason Pegg’s bloodied arm following his and the author’s hearts and minds campaign in an Afghan village on May 31, 2005. Source: Facebook.

Heath B. Hansen

U.S. Army

I opened my eyes. It was still dark, but I could see the night was ending and another day in some village in Afghanistan was beginning. The smell of dip-spit and cigarette smoke betrayed the fact that the platoon was awake and breaking down the patrol base. “Get the f*** up, Hansen,” was the greeting from my team leader. “Get your s*** on the humvee, we’re leaving in a few mikes.” “Roger, Sergeant,” I replied. It was May 31 2005, and time to win over more hearts and minds in the War on Terror.

We listened to the convoy brief. The platoon would be heading to another village, in the middle of nowhere, to help villagers that probably had no idea why Americans were in their country and couldn’t care less about ‘democracy.’ The typical information was passed down about the scope and purpose of the mission followed by the monotone, repetitive, “Keep your heads on a swivel” and, “Make sure we have full, three-sixty security at all times. Remember your battle drills.”

Continue reading →