Personality Matters: How Mayors Navigated Rodrigo Duterte’s War on Drugs in the Philippines

Photo of a man placing his left hand on a book held by a woman standing next to him and raising his right hand. Behind him are two other men. On the other side is a man who also has his right hand raised and is holding a clipboard in his other hand, from which he is reading something. In the background, you can see a coat of arms and a statue.

June 30, 2019: Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin (left) administers the oath of Manila Mayor Francisco Moreno Domagoso at the Bulwagang Katipunan of the Manila City Hall. Photo: Avito Dalan via wikimedia commons, Public Domain.

New Working Paper by Peter Kreuzer

In his new PRIF Working Paper, Peter Kreuzer examines the role of mayors in the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines. He examines how how mayors’ leader­ship traits and emotional responses influenced local political reactions to President Duterte's crack­down on drug trafficking and con­sumption in the Philippines, as well as the extent of lethal police violence. 

The analysis is based on nearly 50 interviews with mayors, police chiefs, prose­cutors, and other officials in major cities across the Philippines. It shows that perso­nality traits such as belief in personal control, power-seeking, and self-confi­dence influ­enced how mayors dealt with Duterte's war on drugs. 

This wor­king paper contributes to understanding how individual characte­ristics and emotional responses can alter political output and outcomes, advo­cating for a greater focus on personality in political science. By high­lighting the role of local political leadership, it underscores the impor­tance of considering the political environ­ment in which police operate in research on police use of force. 

Peter Kreuzer is  PRIF Board Mem­ber, Project Leader of the project “Demo­cracy beyond Legitimate Coercion: Deadly Use of Force by the Police in the Philippines and Brazil” and Senior Re­searcher at the Research Depart­ment Intrastate Conflicts. He focuses on political violence in the Philip­pines and maritime conflicts in the South China Sea. 

The wor­king paper is available for download (PDF, accessible).