THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA IN THE LENS OF REALISM

Essay by JaaayCollege, UndergraduateA-, August 2014

download word file, 13 pages 0.0

THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA IN THE LENS OF REALISM

Chapter 1: Introduction

Scope and Limitations

It is undeniable that there have been rapid developments in the issue of the West Philippine Sea dispute, that archipelagic state, that is, a nation of many islands such as the Philippines, is concerned. Pitlo III (2013) argues that contrary to the thinking in certain quarters, the Philippines does not lay claim to the entire West Philippine Sea, however, that area where the Philippines lay its claims is subject to the core national interest of many states.

This Term Paper aims to discover and answer the following, what do the Philippines have to say? In other words, what is the nature of Philippines' claim over Kalayaan Islands Group (KIG) and the Philippines' preferred manner of solving the maritime conflict? Who are the other claimants? Of what basis do they rise? What is the relevance of the KIG? And how states, in pursuit of their national interest, deemed this issue to be of geopolitical concern?

Methodology

For the purpose of this study, information will be gathered through published materials such as academic books, scholarly journals, Newspaper articles, Official Gazettes, United Nations publications, official documents from the government website, reports and data published by international or regional organizations and other online sources.

This Term Paper would like to analyze the issue of the West Philippine Sea in a Realist perspective. Thus, it will try to expose the realities of how States are concerned in certain geopolitical issues and how these issues mold their national interest may it be political, economic, or traditional (military) security. Moreover, this paper would like to uphold the three tenets of realism: (1) Statism; (2) Survival; and (3) Self-help and how national security is deemed realpolitik . The dispute over the West Philippine...