Rizal G. Buendia, PhD, is an independent consultant and researcher in Southeast Asian Politics. Currently Philippine country expert of the Global V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Non-Resident Fellow of Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ADRi), an independent, international research organization focused on the in-depth analysis of economic, social, political and strategic issues influencing the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific region; Honorary Fellow of the Bangsamoro Parliament’s Policy Research and Legal Services of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM); Former Teaching Fellow in Security and Southeast Asian Politics and Governance at the Department of Political Science and International Relations and the Department of Development, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and former Chair and Associate Professor, Political Science Department, De La Salle University-Manila, Philippines.