Charter

Opening Statement

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in number of Philippine universities offering courses in International Relations (IR). The newly founded PHISO aims to inculcate this budding academic field as the pioneering association of students, academicians, and institutions dedicated to the study of IR. It seeks to promote informed scholarship on International Relations based on Philippine context and boost the country’s position in international affairs.

“In recent years, the field of International Relations has seen new discourses covering the roles and perspectives of non-Western states and cultures in theory. This is a monumental opportunity for the discipline in the Philippines. Our objective is to provide a forum for Philippine students, academics, and practitioners to share their views, collaborate in research initiatives, and disseminate their work to a broader audience,” said Frances Antoinette Cruz, president of PHISO.

Although there are already a number of social science research organizations in the country both on and off campus, Cruz said they have noticed a significant gap in academic scholarship to the field because IR is considered as a subfield of political science in the country. International Relations is an interdisciplinary field of social science that focuses on broad global processes and combines other fields such as sociology, history, economics, philosophy, and political science. PHISO aims to establish IR as an independent, multidisciplinary field of study in the Philippines.

The founders (referring to the members of the core group) hope that by providing a series of publications, conferences and academic fellowships, students of international relations will have a unique opportunity to take part in their future projects and participate in programs where member students and scholars can collaborate in research and share their views.

The Charter

The Charter of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO) was passed on 24 October 2015 by 16 votes out of 27 Core Group members, and was ratified using the Adobe eSign services (transaction code: XUKYGLS4P2V4I6T) by members of the Executive Committee on 25 October 2015. For a detailed ratification process, read the last two pages of the charter uploaded below. Download the charter here or view the scribd document below.

The ratification was enacted using the Adobe Document Cloud eSign services. According to Adobe eSign website, electronic signatures “are legally enforceable and valid in almost every industrialized country around the world. Adobe eSign services adheres to the latest best practices for online security and applies them at every level — from the application code and networks to the physical facilities.”