Rosalie Arcala Hall, Philippines

Curriculum vitae

Rosalie Arcala Hall is a Professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines Visayas Miagao, Iloilo. She completed her Masters degree in Political Science (1998) and her PhD in International and Public Affairs (2002) at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on a Fulbright-Hayes scholarship. Dr. Hall teaches undergraduate courses on international relations, international law, comparative politics of Western countries, national identity politics, gender and research methods and writing for seniors. She held visiting researcher appointments at Loyola University Chicago, Meiji University, University of Innsbruck, Indonesia Center for Strategic and International Studies and East West Center Washington, DC. Dr. Hall has done independent and collaborative research projects with grants from The Nippon Foundation Asian Public Intellectual Fellowships Program, Toyota Foundation Southeast Asian Research and Exchange Program, East Asian Development Network, The Asia Foundation, Austrian North-South Dialogue Program, International IDEA, UP System Creative and Research Scholarship and UP Visayas In-House Research. Among her research projects are: (1) the integration of former combatants and proxies into the army comparing the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Falintil (East Timor) cases; (2) women in the Philippine army; (3) reintegration into society of Moro and communist ex-combatants; (4) US-Philippine military relations in the context of the antiterror war in Mindanao; (5) local security strategies in Bangsamoro zones; and (6) gender aspects of conflict, security and political party formation in the Bangsamoro area. She has published articles in the Philippine Political Science Journal, Korean Journal of Defense Analysis and Asian Security. Her most important publication is a chapter in the Chambers and Waitoolkiat edited Khaki Capital: The Political Economy of the Military in Southeast Asia (NIAS Press, 2017). Currently, she sits on the Boards of the Commission on Higher Education Technical Committee on Political Science, Philippine Political Science Association and the Asian Political and International Studies Association.

Reflection

I received a 6-month research grant under the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Programme – financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation from 2006 to 2007. The research was about the policy dynamics and processes of Austria deploying military troops abroad, in conjunction with its EU membership and participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace. My institutional host then was the Department of Political Science, University of Innsbruck under the supervision of Dr. Gerhard Mangott. The Austrian grant was my second post-doctoral research. It helped me solidify my research credentials on civil-military relations in established democracies with militaries either with contentious existence (e.g. Japan) or with foreign policies that do not always lend itself favorably towards deployment abroad, other than peacekeeping (e.g. neutral countries like Austria). From the research findings, I was able to publish an article in a peer-reviewed journal. From a professional standpoint, I have been exposed to questions of gender and the integration of women in the armed forces because of my research in Austria. Austria was one of the first EU countries to mainstream gender in its peacekeeping training, in line with the country’s commitment under UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and 1820. From this initial exposure I was able to follow up with parallel inquiries (e.g. integration of female ex-combatants into the Philippine Army). The gender dimension of overseas deployment is now the focal point of my current follow-up research under the Ernst-Mach Grant at University of Vienna. Living in Innsbruck, my experience was enriched by the intercultural programs arranged by then Austrian Exchange Services. I participated in a workshop on peace building and on gender. I also joined excursions to Mauthausen, to the Christkindlmarkt in Salzburg, and a night of opera performance in Innsbruck. They were very important in anchoring my understanding of Austrian societal values, history and cultural legacies. It also connected me with other Austrian government scholarship holders who came from various countries, notably from Africa. Having lived in Austria, I have come to appreciate the general efficiency in the way business or government, including the university is run. Students and researchers were independent, but were responsible. I developed a writing routine during my stay in Innsbruck, which I carry on to this date.