Protection at the Margins: How the Catholic Church Shielded Communities from Populist Violence in the Philippine Drug War (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

Protection at the Margins is a ground-breaking account of how and why religious actors protect local communities from state-driven populist violence. Focusing on Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's notorious 'Drug War,' the book provides an intricate view of how religion, populism, and political violence interact on the ground. Drawing on original surveys of Catholic clergy, experiments with members of the Philippine National Police, spatial data on thousands of drug killings, and dozens of field interviews in these neighborhoods, the book shows how Catholic elites used moral commitment and institutional capacity to influence street-level bureaucrats with discretion over violence, work with secular partners, and challenge populist dehumanization. It also highlights obstacles to protection, in the Philippines as well as Brazil and the United States. Amidst rising global concern about populism and violence, Protection at the Margins generates new insights into how religious actors shielded communities in one of the world's largest mega-cities.

David T. Buckley is the Paul Weber Endowed Chair of Politics, Science, and Religion at University of Louisville, where he also directs the University's Center for Asian Democracy. He is the author of Blessing America First: Religion, Populism, and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration (2024) and Faithful to Secularism: The Religious Politics of Democracy in Ireland, Senegal and the Philippines (2017).

Steven Brooke is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Faculty Director of the Middle East Studies program at University of Wisconsin, Madison and a member of the Project on Middle East Political Science steering committee. His book, Winning Hearts and Votes: Social Services and the Islamist Political Advantage (2019) received the APSA Middle East section award for best book by a first-time author.