The Credibility Imperative 2025: Governance Integrity, Economic Resilience, and Strategic Adaptability in Philippine Diplomacy
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https://doi.org/10.65166/6amaz997关键词:
Philippine foreign policy, diplomatic credibility, governance integrity, economic resilience, strategic adaptability, Indo-Pacific order, regional diplomacy, policy coherence摘要
Diplomatic credibility is increasingly treated as a strategic asset in the Indo-Pacific, yet it is often discussed as if it were produced primarily by external alignment rather than by domestic capability. This study analyzes the Philippines’ diplomatic credibility as an endogenous outcome of three internal pillars: governance integrity, economic resilience, and strategic adaptability. Using a descriptive–comparative design and secondary macro-level indicators, the paper benchmarks the Philippines against the ASEAN-6 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines) and synthesizes evidence from the World Bank (including Worldwide Governance Indicators and World Development Indicators), IMF statistical series, and trade datasets (e.g., UN Comtrade/UNCTAD). Findings show that credibility-relevant signals are uneven across pillars: governance indicators exhibit persistent fragility relative to regional peers; economic resilience remains constrained by structural concentration and volatility-sensitive external exposure; and strategic adaptability is shaped by a compensatory reliance on alliance-based security and episodic policy recalibration. Taken together, the results are consistent with the Philippine Diplomatic Credibility Framework (PDCF), which posits that external legitimacy depends on disciplined institutions, productive and diversified economic capacity, and coherent strategic statecraft. The study concludes that strengthening credibility in the Indo-Pacific requires converting domestic reforms into durable external leverage through institutional professionalism, industrial modernization, and policy coherence.
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