Treaty or Travesty?: Legal Issues Surrounding the U.S.- Philippines Military Base Agreement of 1947–1992

In: The journal of American-East Asian relations, Volume 10, Issue 1-2, p. 93-121

Abstract

AbstractSince the end of World War II, the United States has been foremost in negotiating military bases on foreign soil, and it can be anticipated that it will do so again in the future. In general, these base agreements have had many common elements. Most have allowed the stationing of American troops on foreign soil for a very long period of time, and have involved a certain measure of extraterritoriality. Most have been concluded under conditions of stress for the host country. Often, for example, the host nation has been one that was devastated by war, and was either the recently defeated enemy or the near-prostrate victor. In many cases the host nation was relatively small, economically shaky, and newly independent, fearful of its chances of survival in an unpredictable and often hostile world; and more often than not, the former ruler or territorial administrator was the United States.