Seminar: Revisiting the war in Marawi, the southern Philippines

The discussions on the five-month siege of the southern Philippine city of Marawi have been mainly about the growing ISIS presence in Muslim Mindanao and the attempts by the Philippine government to drive ISIS out. While ISIS is indeed important, this talk explores other equally important actors involved in the conflict, notably the political clans and their connections not just to ISIS militants but also to insurgent groups and an exceptionally vibrant illicit sector in the area. It suggests that the success of ISIS network building in the southern Philippines hinges on its ability to tap the support of these forces.

Patricio N. Abinales is a professor at the School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and co-author of State and Society in the Philippines (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017 edition). He grew up in northern Mindanao and completed a Ph.D. dissertation at Cornell University on the political development of the Mindanao provinces of Cotabato and Davao. His current research is on USAID's presence in the Mindanao war zones, which he started when he was a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.

Ticket Information
Free, open to the public

Event Sponsor
East-West Center , Mānoa Campus

More Information
Laurel Pikcunas, (808) 944-7444, pikcunal@eastwestcenter.org, Flier- Patricio Abinales (PDF)

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