Walden Bello

Walden Bello is a columnist at Foreign Policy In Focus and a former member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He made the only recorded resignation on principle from Congress owing to differences with the administration of President Benigno Aquino III on domestic issues and foreign policy. He is the author or co-author of 23 books, including the forthcoming Counterrevolution: Origins, Dynamics, Consequences (spring 2019) and The Fall of China? Preventing the Next Crash (spring 2019).

Drug War and Drug PolicyFebruary 27, 2019

Not Even Prison Walls Can Silence Duterte’s Nemesis

Amid a crackdown on independent media, the defiant Philippine Senator Leila de Lima enters her third year as a political prisoner.

Walden Bello
October 26, 2018

A Letter to Brazil, From a Friend Living Under Duterte

Brazil is on the verge of electing a Duterte-style fascist. What can the left do?

Walden Bello
Foreign PolicyJune 22, 2018

China’s Bigger Economic Threat

Would the US be better off helping stabilize the Chinese economy, rather than gearing up for a trade war?

Walden Bello
World LeadersJanuary 9, 2017

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte Is a Wildly Popular Fascist

Now what?

Walden Bello
The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Sign up
Latin AmericaSeptember 21, 2016

How Middle-Class Chileans Contributed to the Overthrow of Salvador Allende

American intervention was one factor leading to the Chilean coup—but unrest on the part of middle-class Chileans was another.

Walden Bello
Campaigns and ElectionsMay 20, 2016

People Say the Next Philippine President Is a Lot Like Trump. Here’s Why.

A hapless elite, an angry electorate, and a brash front-runner with little regard for democratic norms: The latest Philippine election sounds a lot like America’s.

Walden Bello
WorldOctober 5, 2015

China’s Stock Market Crash Is the Latest Crisis of Global Capitalism

Alongside rising protests from farmers and workers, China now confronts a middle class anxious about a slowdown in growth and burned by the stock market bust. It’s a volatile brew.

Walden Bello
AsiaSeptember 22, 2015

What the Class Politics of World War II Mean for Tensions in Asia Today

In the Philippines, the grandson of a despised collaborator has endorsed the remilitarization of his country's former occupiers—by the grandson of a war criminal, no less.

Walden Bello
InequalityMarch 23, 2015

Why Are Liberal Democracies So Bad at Creating Economic Equality?

The “Third Wave” of democracy in the Global South went hand in hand with the spread of policies that hobbled the fight for greater economic equality from the outset.

Walden Bello
Armed ConflictsMarch 17, 2015

The US Military Just Plunged Philippine Politics Into Crisis

American fingerprints are all over a botched commando raid in the southern Philippines that left dozens dead and shocked the country.

Walden Bello and Foreign Policy In Focus

Log In

Walden Bello

Drug War and Drug PolicyFebruary 27, 2019

Amid a crackdown on independent media, the defiant Philippine Senator Leila de Lima enters her third year as a political prisoner.

October 26, 2018

Brazil is on the verge of electing a Duterte-style fascist. What can the left do?

Foreign PolicyJune 22, 2018

Would the US be better off helping stabilize the Chinese economy, rather than gearing up for a trade war?

World LeadersJanuary 9, 2017

Now what?

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Latin AmericaSeptember 21, 2016

American intervention was one factor leading to the Chilean coup—but unrest on the part of middle-class Chileans was another.

Campaigns and ElectionsMay 20, 2016

A hapless elite, an angry electorate, and a brash front-runner with little regard for democratic norms: The latest Philippine election sounds a lot like America’s.

WorldOctober 5, 2015

Alongside rising protests from farmers and workers, China now confronts a middle class anxious about a slowdown in growth and burned by the stock market bust. It’s a volatile brew.

AsiaSeptember 22, 2015

In the Philippines, the grandson of a despised collaborator has endorsed the remilitarization of his country's former occupiers—by the grandson of a war criminal, no less.

InequalityMarch 23, 2015

The “Third Wave” of democracy in the Global South went hand in hand with the spread of policies that hobbled the fight for greater economic equality from the outset.

Armed ConflictsMarch 17, 2015

American fingerprints are all over a botched commando raid in the southern Philippines that left dozens dead and shocked the country.