Julio Cabral Teehankee is a Filipino political scientist and a prominent political analyst focused on Philippine politics and democracy issues. He is full professor of political science and international studies at De La Salle University (DLSU) where he served as chair of the Political Science Department (1994–2007); chair of the International Studies Department (2008–2013); and dean of the College of Liberal Arts (2013–2017).Academia.edu profile, https://dlsu.academia.edu/JulioTeehankee He was the first Southeast Asian to be elected to the Executive Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), an international scholarly association founded under the auspices of UNESCO in 1949.
He continuously aims to bridge theory and practice in academic and other professional endeavors. Aside from teaching and research, he has served as political and policy consultant to government officials, electoral candidates, political parties, national and international organizations.
Teehankee specializes in the comparative analysis and development of East and Southeast Asia, with particular focus on elections, party politics, democratization and governance. He has published papers on elections, party politics, and political dynasties in the Philippines, Japan and Southeast Asia.
He has been cited as one of only four political scientists in the 2015 Webometrics' List of 150 Top Scientists in the Philippines based on Google Scholar citations. His research works have been indexed in Scopus and Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index. He was co-editor of Building Inclusive Democracies in ASEAN, a recipient of the 2016 National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Outstanding Book Award. He was also a recipient of the NAST Outstanding Book award in 2024 for Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Competition in Local Elections, published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press.
Teehankee has been quoted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist. His political commentaries have been published by the East Asia Forum, New Mandala, and Asia Dialogue. He has appeared regularly on media as a political analyst.
Early life and education Julio Teehankee was born to a distinguished family with deep roots in the Philippines. His paternal grandfather, José Tee Han Kee, immigrated to the Philippines in 1901 from Amoy (now Xiamen), China and became the first medical director of the Chinese General Hospital in Manila. Julio's uncle, Claudio Teehankee, served as the 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
Julio Teehankee completed his elementary education at the Ateneo de Manila University from 1972 to 1980. He attended high school at La Salle Greenhills from 1980 to 1984. He obtained his bachelor's degree majoring in Political Science (1988) and his doctorate degree in Development Studies (with distinction in 2001) from De La Salle University. He earned his master's degree in Political Science (1994) from the University of the Philippines Diliman. From 2007 to 2008, he completed his postdoctoral studies at the Graduate Schools of Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo under a Japan Foundation fellowship. He does not hold any degree from outside of the Philippines.
Visiting fellowships Julio Teehankee was a visiting fellow at Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom in 2022. Previously, he was a visiting fellow at the Philippines Project of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan in 2020; at the School of Regulation and Global Governance, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University in 2019; at the Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong in 2018; at the Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University in 2015; at the Japan Institute for International Affairs in 2002; a Sumitomo Foundation research grantee at the Waseda Institute of Asia Pacific Studies, Waseda University in 2000; a Fulbright American Studies fellow at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2000; and, a Japan Foundation faculty development grantee at Ibaraki University, Japan from July 1995 to July 1996.
Major publications
Books The Narrative Trap: The Paradox of the Philippine Presidency, co-authored with Mark R. Thompson [forthcoming] Interregnum: Philippine Progressive and Reform Politics in an Age of Authoritarian Nostalgia. Pasig City: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Mass-Elite Discrepancies in Philippine Politics, co-edited with Rosalie Arcala Hall, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge [forthcoming] More Political Than We Admit: Volume 3: Discourse, Movements, and Resistance, Quezon City: Vibal [forthcoming] More Political Than We Admit: Volume 2: The State and Its Discontents, Quezon City: Vibal [forthcoming] More Political Than We Admit: Theories and the Problematic of Philippine Politics, Quezon City: Vibal, 2024. Rethinking Parties in Democratizing Asia, co-edited with Christian Echle, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023. Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Competition in Local Elections, co-edited with Cleo Calimbahin, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press/Bughaw, 2022. (2024 National Academy of Science and Technology Outstanding Book Award) Debate on Federal Philippines, co-edited with Eduardo Araral, Gilberto Llanto, Jonathan Malaya, and Ronald Mendoza, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press/Bughaw, 2017. Building Inclusive Democracies in ASEAN, co-edited with Ronald Mendoza, Edsel Beja Jr., Antonio La Viña, and Maria Villamejor-Mendoza, Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2015. (2016 National Academy of Science and Technology Outstanding Book Award) Rethinking Japan’s Foreign Policy: State, Society, and Security. Manila: Yuchengco Center for East Asia, 2002. Japanese Party Politics and Governance in Transition. Manila: Yuchengco Center for East Asia, 2002.
Book chapters “Anti-Party and Apartisan Attitudes in Southeast Asia: On Ordinary Citizens, Political Parties and Leadership,” co-authored with Anthony Lawrence Borja, in Lise Storm De Gruyter (Ed.) Handbook of Political Parties of the Global South, 311-339, Berlin: De Guyter [forthcoming] “Pandemic Populism Amid Weak State Capacity in the Philippines.” In Rachel M. Gisselquist and Andrea Vaccaro (Eds) How States Respond to Crisis: Pandemic Governance Across the Global South, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025, 81-104. “An Anarchy of Parties: The Pitfalls of the Presidential-based Party System in the Philippines.” In Thomas Poguntke and Wilhelm Hofmeister (Eds.) Political Parties and the Crisis of Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024, 467-485. “State-Market Dynamics and the Historical Dominance of San Miguel in the Philippine Beer Industry,” co-authored with Eric C. Batalla, in Paul Chambers and Nithi Nuangjamnong (Eds.) Beer in East Asia: A Political Economy, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023, 106-138. “The Legacy of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: Authoritarian Contamination in Philippine Party Politics.” In Edilberto C. De Jesus and Ivyrose S. Baysic (Eds) Martial Law in the Philippines: Lessons and Legacies, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2023, 221-246. . "Introduction: Taking a Second Look at Asian Political Parties,” co-authored with Rey Padit, and Joong Hun Park, in Julio C. Teehankee and Christian Echle (Eds.) Rethinking Parties in Democratizing Asia. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023, 1-25. “Conclusion: Movements, Parties, and Asian Democracies Against the Odds.” In Teehankee, J. C. and Echle, C. (Eds) Rethinking Parties in Democratizing Asia. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023, 219-230. “Case Study of Philippines,” co-authored with Carmel V. Abao, in Wilhelm Hofmeister and Peter Köppinger (Eds) Political Parties and Civil Society: The Need for Stronger Linkages to Defend and Promote Democracy, Brussels: European Network of Political Foundations, 2022, 42-63. “Dissecting Patronage Politics in the Philippines.” In Julio C. Teehankee and Cleo A. Calimbahin (Eds.) Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Machines in Local Politics, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press/Bughaw, 2022, 1-37. “City of Manila: Political Brokerage in Urban Mayoral Elections,” co-authored with Louie C. Montemar, in Julio C. Teehankee and Cleo A. Calimbahin (Eds.) Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients, and Machines in Local Politics. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press/Bughaw 2022, 64-100. “Untangling the Party List System.” In Hutchcroft P. (Ed.) Strong Patronage, Weak Parties: The Case for Electoral Reform in the Philippines. Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2019, 145-161. "Accountability Challenges to Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia.” In Holzhacker, R. and Agussalim, D. (Eds.), Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEAN. Singapore: Brill, 2019, 79-97. “House of Clans: Political Dynasties in the Philippine Legislature.” In Mark R. Thompson and Eric C. Batalla (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philippines. London and New York: Routledge., 2018, 85-96. “Strengthening the Party List System as a List Proportional Representation Election System.” In Malaya, J. (Ed.). The Quest for a Federal Philippines, 110-122. Pasay: PDP Laban Federalism Institute., 2017, 98-110. “Rationale and Features of Federalism.” In Araral, E. et al. Debate on Federal Philippines, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press/Bughaw, 2017, 9-44. “Was Duterte’s Rise Inevitable?” In Curato, N. (Ed.) A Duterte Reader: Critical Essays on Rodrigo Duterte’s Early Presidency. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press/Bughaw., 2017, 39-58. “Institutionalizing Political Party Reforms in the Philippines.” In Mendoza, R.U., Beja, E.L. Jr., Teehankee, J.C. La Viña, A.G.M., and Villamejor-Mendoza, M.F.V. (Eds.) Building Inclusive Democracies in ASEAN. Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2015, 308-318. “The Philippines” in Jean Blondel, Takashi Inoguchi, and Ian Mars (Eds.) Political Parties and Democracy: Western Europe, East and Southeast Asia 1990-2010. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 187-205. “Clientelism and Party Politics in the Philippines,” in Dirk Tomsa, D. and Andreas Ufen(Eds.) Clientelism and Electoral Competition in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2012, 186-214. “Been There, Done That: Southeast Asian Response to the Global Financial Crisis?" In Global Financial Crisis and Its Impacts on Asia. Seoul, Korea: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2010, 39-67. “Image, Issues and Machinery: Presidential Campaigns in Post-1986 Philippines," In Yuko Kasuya and Nathan Quimpo (Eds.). The Politics of Change in the Philippines. Manila: Anvil, 2010, 114-161. “Citizen-Party Linkages: Failure to Connect?” In Herberg, M. (Ed.) Reforming the Philippine Party System: Ideas and Initiatives, Debates and Dynamics. Pasig: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2009, 23-44. “Consolidation or Crisis of Clientelistic Democracy? The 2004 Synchronized Elections in the Philippines,” in Croissant, A. & Martin, B. (Eds.), Between Consolidation and Crisis: Elections and Democracy in Five Nations in Southeast Asia. Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2006, 215-276. “Election Campaigning in the Philippines," in Schafferer, C. (Ed.) Election Campaigning in East and Southeast Asia. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, 79-101. “Electoral Politics in the Philippines,” in Croissant, A., Bruns, G., & John, M (Eds.), Electoral Politics in Southeast & East Asia. Singapore: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2002, 149-202.
Journal articles “Legitimacy and Hybrid Peace Governance in Post-Conflict Societies: The Challenges of Muslim Mindanao, Philippines,” co-authored with Kevin Agojo Journal of International Peacekeeping Volume 28, 2025, 105-127