Graduation Year

2023

Date of Submission

4-2023

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

International Relations

Reader 1

Albert Park

Reader 2

Xiao Feng

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2023 India F. Soranson Way

Abstract

Southeast Asia’s digital infrastructure has expanded dramatically in the last ten years. With growing populations using smartphones and the internet, access to information is easier than ever before. However, with this growth in digital information, there has also been a rise in disinformation that permeates many aspects of society, including politics. The most recent 2022 Philippines general election is a part of the disinformation narrative, with Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte elected president and vice president. Both candidates are battered by their families’ history – Bongbong, a legacy of his father’s martial law, and Sara, the daughter of the previous Philippines’ president with a fierce and violent anti-drug policy. What led Filipinos to reelect these two candidates with questionable familial and political histories? This research provides a new tool to assess whether a nation’s election result has been influenced by disinformation, thus being assessed as a “disinformed state.” By applying the disinformation rubric to this case study and discussing contemporary examples of disinformation, this thesis contends that factors of disinformation influenced the 2022 Philippines general election.

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