“Anti-Civic Politics: Morality and Inequality in the Philippine Democracy” (hosei University Press. 2013)

Wataru KUSAKA (Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University)

I am really honored that my book is awarded the 30th Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the board of directors, the selection committee and the staff.
The book argues that “moralization of politics” threatens democracy, based on my experience of filed survey in a slum community in Metro Manila, Philippines. In slum the communities, the urban poor make a humble living through non-law-abiding practices such as street vending and informal settling. Vote buying is also not uncommon. The middle class and state leaders have denounced the poor as criminals who damage national development and demolished their shanties and stalls. It is, however, because of the extremely unequal socio-economic structure that have made the poor to resort to non-law abiding practices to survive in the city. It is a false remedy to give moral prescriptions to the socio-economic problems. A general assumption is that moral citizens are indispensable for democracy. Moral appeals of “right citizens,” however, inevitably construct and exclude some people as “wrong non-citizens,” and threaten the plurality of democracy. Moreover, it may foment politics of resentment as it denies legitimacy of those who are constructed as “wrong non-citizens.”
I apprehend that moralization of politics is getting intensified in Japan as well. Discourses are circulating that invent “enemies” in and out of the nation, and allege their elimination. I suspect that such discourses originate from the uneasiness of precarious lives caused by dissolution of the welfare state and flexibilization of employment. In the context of withdrawal of the state, life or death competition for survival is getting harsher. Against this trend, how can we develop mutuality to strengthen security of our lives with diverse people who may uphold different morality? In the case of the Philippines, as the state does not guarantee welfare of the people, even morally opposing people have developed mutuality to support each other’s lives. Late Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira is known for his persistent negotiation with political allies and adversaries, and I think his political philosophy is very contrary to the moral politics that foments fear and resentment against “enemies.” I would like to learn such practices and thoughts to develop ideas to prevent further moralization of politics and seek possibilities of democracy based on mutuality of the people beyond moral cleavages of “right” and “wrong.”

Profile
Wataru Kusaka is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University. He obtained B.A. in political science from Waseda University, M.A. and Ph.D. in social and cultural studies from Kyushu University. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines from 2007 to 2008, Researcher at the Global COE Program, Kyoto University from 2008 to 2009, and Assistant Professor at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University from 2009 to 2013. He is an author of “Governing Informalities of the Urban Poor: Street Vendors and Social Order Making in Metro Manila,” in The Politics of Change in the Philippines, Yuko Kasuya and Nathan Quimpo eds., Pasig City: Anvil Publisher, 2010: 362-390.