RESEARCH

The TWSC has a long tradition of research on critical political economy, development issues, democratization, and governance. Research is focused on the search for progressive discourses and alternative paradigms. Guided by the principles of participatory research, the main objectives of the Center's researches are to develop Third World perspectives on various issues and to translate knowledge generated in order to promote actions for change or to improve existing local actions. Central to this process of knowledge transformation is the role of social movements and civil society, which the Center works closely with.

Ongoing Research Projects

A Pilot Study of the Human Security Index in Eight Municipalities in the Philippines

This project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme-Conflict Prevention and Peace-Building Programme and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, University of the Philippines-Diliman, was designed to employ the proposed index of human security developed by the TWSC project team (see "Developing a Human Security Index for the Philippines: An Exploratory Study of Human Security in Conflict Areas" in our "Completed Projects" page) to measure human security in nine provinces in the Philippines. This study generated baseline indicators and explored the feasibility of institutionalizing the survey to generate a human security index in these local government units.

For more information,please contact the coordinator.

Mendiola: Memory and History of a Contested Space

The research serves as the second phase of the "Mendiola Narratives" project (see our "Completed Projects" page). The earlier project surfaced and recorded in audiovisual format the personal narratives of those who were once witnesses and participants to protest actions in Mendiola, the street that leads directly to the Malacanang Palace, the seat of the Philippine presidency. "Mendiola Narratives" made visible the Filipinos' refusal to forget the injustices suffered at the hand of its own government and the resolute stance that the Filipinos have taken to speak truth to power. The current project will re-read and reconstruct the narratives around the following major themes: constructing Mendiola as a space for contending the state, and memory and textual representations of Mendiola in the realm of memory and history.

For more information, please contact the coordinator.

The Asian Democracy Index (ADI)

Please visit the ADI microsite here.

Completed Projects

Since its establishment, the Center has completed numerous major research projects on different aspects of Philippine and Third World societies and states.