Richard Heydarian
Heydarian in 2016 receiving the TOYM award
Born	Richard Javad Foronda Heydarian Baguio, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Alma mater	University of the Philippines Diliman (BA,MIS)
Occupations	Writer TV Host Professor Youtuber
Employers	Philippine Daily Inquirer University of the Philippines Diliman One News
Known for	South China Sea dispute expertise Philippine politics and Populism analysis
Television	The View From Manila (One News)
Awards	Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the World
YouTube information
Channels	Richard Heydarian VLOGS
Years active	2015–present
Subscribers	121,000 (As of December 2024)
Total views	26,000.000 (As of December 2024)
Website	richardheydarian.com

Richard Javad Foronda Heydarian is a Filipino political scientist, university lecturer, television host, and podcaster. He has penned numerous articles for prominent global publications,^[1][2] including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and The Guardian as well as authored/co-authored more than a dozen academic books. He is best known for his research and writings on Southeast Asia, Asian geopolitics, Philippine current affairs, and populism.^[3] He has also been regularly interviewed by the Aljazeera, BBC, Bloomberg, CNN International, CBNC, DW & all major global media outlets.^[4] As a global affairs specialist, he has been interviewed by journalists such as Christiane Amanpour,^[5] Fareed Zakaria^[6] and Maria Ressa.^[7]

Heydarian is also a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the country's newspaper of record, and regularly writes for the Asia Times and the South China Morning Post.^[8] He is the host of "The View from Manila" on One News TV Channel, and also host of multiple podcasts, including "Deep Dive with Richard Heydarian", which is among the leading podcasts in the Philippines,^[9] as well as "The Bridge", which focuses on Europe-ASEAN ties and is a project supported by the European Parliament^[10] As a public thinker, he is also active on social media, including on his Youtube Channel (Richard Heydarian Vlogs).^[11] As a cultural figure, he has also been featured in lifestyle publications, including in Tatler Magazine's "Asia's Most Stylish" issue in 2022. ^[12]

Born in Baguio, Heydarian completed his bachelor's degree in Political Science and Master's in International Studies at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.^[13]He began teaching at Ateneo de Manila University then at De La Salle University in early-2010s, before switching to mainstream media, where he served as resident analyst at ABS-CBN News Channel and, a year later, as a resident political analyst and later host of Stand for Truth at GMA Network.

In 2018, he joined the Philippine Daily Inquirer, becoming one of the youngest columnists in the newspaper's history. The same year, he also won the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Year award by the Junior Chamber International for his contributions to public policy discourse and social sciences. He had won the Ten Outstanding Young Men award in 2016.^[14]

As a researcher, he began as a consultant to the German think tank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the Manila office, and was also the editor-in-chief of Socdem Asia, the magazine and publication outlet for the alliance of social democratic and progressive parties in the Indo-Pacific region.^[15] He is also currently a contributor to International Politics and Society magazine, published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Brussels office, and a magazine for social democratic thinkers.^[16]

He is currently a senior lecturer at the UP Asian Center, where he teaches graduate courses on international affairs in Asia and broader Indo-Pacific region.^[17] He previously served as Professorial Chairholder as well as Associate Professor at Polytechnic University of the Philippines.^[8] He is also currently a television host at One News, where his show, The View From Manila was nominated for the "Best Current Affairs" program at Asian Television Awards 2023.^[18]

Richard Heydarian has been operating at the interstices of academe, journalism, think tank circles, and activism. He has taught at the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University, and has also served as resident analyst/host at ABS-CBN News Channel, GMA Network and One News/TV5. He has also presented lectures and talks at leading universities such as Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, Leiden University, and Australian National University. He has also contributed to and given talks at leading think tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Brookings Institution, and the Lowy Institute. He has been described as among the "most prolific and interviewed geopolitical analyst[s] currently writing and speaking not only in the Philippines but arguably in Southeast Asia as well" by the Stanford University. His articles and interviews have appeared on The Atlantic, BBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The New York Times, Time, Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.^{[19] [20]}

His began his career as a geopolitical analyst a junior researcher with the German think tank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Manila office, which is affiliated with Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and was also the editor-in-chief of 'Socdem Asia'^[15] and is also a regular contributor to 'International Politics and Society' magazine, which is a prominent magazine for social democratic thinkers. Against the backdrop of global uncertainty and rise of alt-right populism, he considers himself as a "progressive realist", who appreciates the need for proactive social mobilization, coalition-building with likeminded forces, robust social safety nets combined with more centrist social policies, as well as deterrence and balance of power in matters of geopolitics.^[16]

Heydarian has also been an advocate for human rights and democracy in the Philippines and beyond. During the controversial tenure of President Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022), Heydarian adopted an increasingly critical stance in both his mainstream media appearances and social media posts, most notably zeroing on the populist administration's deadly war on drugs and pro-China stance in the South China Sea dispute. In 2019, he penned a blank column titled "Duterte's Independent Foreign Policy" in protest of Duterte's soft-pedaling in response to the Reed Bank incident.^[21] His critical stance has made him a major target of pro-Duterte trolls and death threats. Not long after his protest column, he faced legal harassment too, including a dubious subpoena reportedly orchestrated by pro-Duterte elements in the Land Transportation Office (LTO). Elements within the LTO also violated his privacy when they publicized the subpoena for Heydarian, who threatened to respond through proper legal means.^[22]

As a journalist and academic, Heydarian has met and/or exchanged views with leading global statesmen including Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad^[23],German Chancellor Olaf Scholz,^[24] and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.^[25]

He is also a major proponent of a more proactive and autonomous Philippine foreign policy as well as a greater role for Global South nations and cooperation among likeminded post-colonial nations. Accordingly, he prefers middle powers such as the Philippines to resist any undue pressure and unilateralism by any superpower, including the incoming Trump 2.0 administration.^[26] He is, however, an advocate of 'minilateralism', and has dubbed the term, "JAPHUS", referring to the Japan-Philippine-US trilateral alliance.^[27]

As a prominent voice on ASEAN affairs, he was among speakers at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Jakarta in 2023.^[28] As for new power grouping such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), Heydarian believes they are important indicators of a major shift in the global balance of power towards post-American multipolarity, although remains still skeptical of the actual projects and initiatives of the power grouping. Although impressed by China's industrial policy and economic miracle, Heydarian is also a skeptical of its investment promises. He dubbed the term "pledge trap", which refers to prospective beneficiaries "forward-deploying strategic concessions in exchange for broadly illusory investment pledges."^[29]

In an era of great power competition, Heydarian argues, ASEAN states have engaged in "fifty shades of hedging" in order to preserve their strategic autonomy.^[30] He is also critical of what he calls "strategic gaslighting", namely when smaller nations as varied as Ukraine, the Philippines and Taiwan are blamed for being bullied or even invaded by bigger powers. At times, major powers such as China, Heydarian argues, accuse smaller neighbors of provocation, when the latter resists expansionist activities by bigger neighbors.^[31] He is also a strong believer in 'industrial policy', and the need for service-oriented economies such as the Philippines' to shift to manufacturing, with a focus on semiconductors and EV batter production. This is the best way, according to Heydarian, to create sustainable development and inclusive growth.^[32]

He has also written extensively about Philippine domestic politics and has been an advocate for a revitalized opposition. Accordingly, he has focused on the role of prominent leaders such as Risa Hontiveros, Leila de Lima, and Leni Robredo – and ways for unifying and mobilizing liberal-progressive and broader democratic forces in the country.^[33] For Heydarian, the Latin American "Pink Tide" progressive movements could serve a potential inspiration for the Philippines, especially given the massive mobilization of the "Pink Movement" during the 2022 presidential elections. 'Over the past two decades, the region has produced, against all odds, a wave of progressive-charismatic leaders, who collectively belong to the so-called “Pink Tide,' Heydarian argued. 'In many ways, we are collectively more similar to Latin America and other former Spanish colonies than neighboring Asian states..."' Analyzing the success of progressive leaders in Latin America, Heydarian emphasized the role of "sustained and full-scale mobilization of the civil society beyond election cycles alone" and how they shunned "half-hearted reforms or tired liberal clichés. They succeeded because they offered nothing short of transformational reform in a broken political system."^[34]

Heydarian is also a social media influencer, with extensive reach across all major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.^[11] His podcast Deep Dive w/ Richard Heydarian has consistently ranked among leading podcasts in the country.^[35] As a non-partisan and independent-minded thinker, Heydarian has consistently challenged political orthodoxies, liberal elitism, persistent deficiencies of opposition groups, and has even publicly debated with leading propagandists aligned with the controversial Rodrigo Duterte presidency.^[36]

As a public thinker, he has penned thousands of articles for leading media publications^[1][2] around the world, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, CNN International, Aljazeera English, Nikkei Asia, The Straits Times, South China Morning Post, among others.

As an academic, he has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including "The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China, and the New Struggle for Global Mastery (Palgrave Macmillan); "Asia's New Battlefield" (Zedbooks, London); and "How Capitalism Failed the Arab World" (Zedbooks, London);^[37] His book "The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy," published by Palgrave Macmillan (London), was featured in The Financial Times' "Best of Weekend Long Reads" list. The book represents the first internationally published analysis of President Rodrigo Duterte's presidency and its implications for the Philippines and beyond.^[38]

He has also co-authored and/or contributed chapters to leading academic publications and authoritative edited volumes, including "Subaltern Populism – Dutertismo and the War on Constitutional Democracy" (Cambridge University Press, 2022); Penal Populism in Emerging Markets: Human Rights and Democracy in the Age of Strongmen (Cambridge University Press, 2020);^[39] as well as "Genealogy of Conflict: The roots, evolution, and trajectory of the South China Sea disputes" (Routledge, 2017);^[40] "The Struggle for Centrality ASEAN, the South China Sea, and the Sino-American New Cold War?" (Routledge, 2022)^[41] "Philippines’ Counter-Terror Conundrum: Marawi and Duterte’s Battle Against the Islamic State" (Routledge, 2019)^[42] and "The Shifting Sands: Duterte, the Philippines, and ASEAN’s Evolving Relations with the DPRK" (Routledge, 2024) ^[43] and "At a Strategic Crossroads: ASEAN Centrality amid Sino-American Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific" (Brookings Institution, 2021).^[44]

He also contributed to prominent edited volumes, including “The WikiLeaks Fallout: Strategic Implications for the U.S.- ASEAN Relations”, in The Wikileaks Files: What the Cables Tell us about the American Empire (Verso, 2015)^[45] as well as Oxford bibliographies,"Politics of the Philippines: From Rizal to Duterte" (Oxford University Press) and “The US-Philippine-China Triangle: From Equi-Balancing to Counter- Balancing amid the South China Sea Disputes” in “Regional Power Shift in the Making? The Rise of China and the South China Sea Disputes” (Springer, 2015, Feb/March) ^[46]

He is also a regular contributor to the prestigious Journal of Democracy academic publication, where he primarily focuses on issues of democratization, authoritarian populism, and the Marcos–Duterte rivalry.^[47]

Journal Articles

• “The Return of the Marcos Dynasty,” Journal of Democracy. July 2002 Issue.
• “Rodrigo Duterte and the Populist Backlash against Globalization”, Harvard International Review. Vol. 38, No. 3
• “Mare Liberum: Aquino, Duterte, and The Philippines’ Evolving Lawfare Strategy in the South China Sea,” Journal of Asian Politics & Policy, (First Quarter 2018).
• "The Changing Triangular Relations Between the Philippines, the United States and the People's Republic China", Journal of Asian Politics & Policy, (Fourth Quarter 2017).
• “Tragedy of small power politics: Duterte and the shifting sands of Philippine foreign policy,” Journal of Asian Security, (Fourth Quarter, 2017)
• "The Arab Summer and Its Discontents: Origins of Revolution, and Islamic Movements in Post-Revolutionary Arab World", Sociology of Islam (2015, August).
• ‘Revenge of Geopolitics: Rise of China and the Confines of Asian Econophoria’, Asian International Studies Review. (Vol 17, No. 1).

• Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the World for contributions to social sciences (2018).^[14]
• Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in the Philippines (2016).^[48]
• "Best Digital Newscast" Guild of Educators, Mentors, and Students (GEMS) Hiyas ng Sining Awards in 2021. ^[49]
• "Best Current Affairs" program at Asian Television Awards 2023 nominee.^[18]
• Munich Young Leader Program awardee (2021/22)^[50]
• Taiwan Fellow (2019)^[51][52]
• Waseda & Erasmus Mundus-GEM PhD School Joint Summer Institute 2011^[53]
• "Asia's Most Stylish", Tatler Magazine (2022)^[12]
• Generation Tatler 50, Asia Leaders of Tomorrow (2018)^[54]
• Generation Tatler 50 (2017) ^[55]