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Passive revolution: A church‐military partnership in the P hilippines
Author(s) -
Moxham Christopher,
Grant Miriam
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/sjtg.12039
Subject(s) - general partnership , hegemony , variety (cybernetics) , power (physics) , state (computer science) , sociology , action (physics) , political science , narrative , public administration , law , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , politics
In the P hilippines, a C atholic social movement for local development and broad structural transformation, referred to as B asic E cclesial C ommunities, offers a counter‐narrative to state development. Predicated on the power of networked local groups, the D iocese of S an C arlos has taken the original concept and rescaled it, operating a variety of social‐action programmes at the diocese level. The focus of this paper is a unique partnership between the diocese and the A rmed F orces of the P hilippines, which has produced a number of measurable positive changes in under‐serviced areas. We remain uncertain, however, about the extent to which the church is cooperating with, or being co‐opted by, the military as it enters into partnership, and many members of the clergy share our scepticism. In this paper we draw upon G ramsci's concept of passive revolution (1971) as a means to conceptualize both the efforts of the church to reform society from within, and the reaffirmation of the hegemonic discourse that seems inevitable.