The killing of political opponents is an established practice in the Philippines, to which several dozen officeholders fall victim each year and which undermines democracy. In this report, Peter Kreuzer presents a detailed data set on this type of violence and answers the questions why the practice is so widespread and why it hardly ever provokes public debate. The analysis focuses on the peace covenant, a central means of symbolic politics to contain violence, but one that unintentionally naturalizes it.
Dr Peter Kreuzer is Senior Researcher at PRIF's Research Department "Intrastate Conflict". He and Dr Jonas Wolff direct the project Democracy beyond legitimate coercion: Deadly use of force by the police in the Philippines and Brazil.
Here you can view the Online-Appendix.