Publications
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.
Journals
Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies
Kasarinlan is an internationally refereed journal published twice a year by the Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines-Diliman. It provides a forum for critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on the Philippines and the Third World with special reference to political economy.
Books
Why the 19th Century Deserves a Second Reading: Colonial Writings about Southeast Asia as Confessional Texts
The 19th century witnessed a boom in both academic and non-academic writing on and about Southeast Asia, though many of the works that were produced then were written by men who were often part of the colonial enterprise. Of late, there has been much criticism of such...
Puksaan Kung Puksaan: Ang mga Kasarian, ang Demokrasya, at ang Dahas ng Lenggwahe
Amidst chants of “Zaldy, Zaldy Magnanakaw” and “DPWH, Kurap Kurap Kurap,” sexually explicit choruses implicating Jinggoy, Marcos and the Discayas were also heard and plastered all over the placards raised during the September 21, 2025, mobilizations. In an...
Anticorruption Campaigns, Regime Change, and Proprietary Polity
The Philippine anti-corruption campaign, triggered by the recent exposes on elected officials’ cannibalization of the national budget to the tune of billions of pesos, is gaining steam. Street protests are drawing in greater numbers and becoming more organized with...
Home Is Where The Loot Is: Mythmaking and Memorializing in Two Marcos Mansions
A revolt notwithstanding, the Marcoses have never left us—and may never will. This forum explores an answer to why this is so. An answer that is more rooted in catching a glimpse of displays and signages than in the brute intramurals of elite politics; an answer found...
How Capitalism Affirms its Hegemony: The Imperial Mode of Living
In their book Imperial Mode of Living (translated into eleven languages) and with this concept, Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen want to highlight the fact that capitalism implies uneven development as well as a constant and accelerating universalisation of a Western...
Debate-Intro
Revisiting and Digitalizing Debate (Philippine Left Review) Although thirty years have passed since the last issue of Debate (Philippine Left Review) was published, it seems that many progressives—old and young—as well as scholars and writers still look for copies of...
Debate-10
Issue No. 10, August 1994 Preliminary Pages (pp. 1-2) Dialectic Reaffirmed: Rejoiner to Paco Arguelles’ Critique of Pagbabalik-aral (pp. 3-15)Rico Buenconsejo On the Programmatic Theses of the Bagong Kilusang Makabayan (pp. 16-28)FATES Rethinking Marxism and...
Debate-9
Issue No. 9, March 1994 Preliminary Pages (pp. 1-2) The Crisis of the Maoist Strategy (pp. 3-21)Toinette Raquiza Towards a New Politico-Military Strategy and Socialist Perspective for the People’s Democratic Revolution in the Philippines (pp. 22-45)Robert Sibunga The...
Debate-8
Issue No. 8, November 1993 Preliminary Pages (pp. 1-2) Editorial Board Statement: Coming Home (pp. 3-4)Editorial Board Considerations on Filipino Marxism: A Response to Nemenzo’s “Questioning Marx, Critiquing Marxism” (pp. 5-33)P.N. Abinales Rejoinder of the...
Debate-7
Issue No. 7, August 1993 Preliminary Pages (pp. 1-2) Sleeping with Communists (pp. 3-13)Sarah Miles Pagbabalik-aral: A-priorism Reaffirmed, A Critique of Pangkalahatang Pagbabalik-aral sa Mahahalagang Pangyayari at Pasya, 1980-1991, by the Central Committee (pp....
Debate-6
Issue No. 6, March 1993 Preliminary Pages (pp. 1-2) The Crisis in the National Democratic Movement and the Transformation of the Philippine Left (pp. 3-60)Joel Rocamora Negotiation as a Form of Struggle: The PKP Experience (pp. 61-76)William Pomeroy
Debate-5
Issue No. 5, December 1992 Preliminary Pages (pp. 1-2) The NDF Program and the CPP Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution: Umbilical Cord or Lifeline? (pp. 3-38)Joel Rocamora “Proper Channelling” and Democratic Centralism (pp. 39-52)Omar Tupaz DOCUMENT CPP...