Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Instructional Material in
GEED 20023
POLITICS, GOVERNANCE AND CITIZENSHIP
2020 – 2021
First Semester
ERICKSON D. CALATA
Compiler/Subject Specialist
edcalata@pup.edu.ph
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Table of Contents
Title Page 1
Table of Contents 2
Course Preliminaries 3
Introduction 5
References 29
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Preliminaries
2. Prerequisites: none
3. Why You Should Take This Class:
This class will teach you about Philippine politics around the world, focusing on subjects like citizenship,
governance, power, democracy and the like. If you just want to understand what is going on in the world,
this class will provide you with useful theoretical frameworks and factual background on some of the
most important socio- political realities in the country. This class first offers some basic analytical
frameworks—power, culture, social structure, and institutions—that you can use to examine a wide range
of political outcomes.
4. Readings:
The readings required of you per week are already provided in this module. Readings total 15-30 pages
per week and should take you about four hours to digest, depending on how quickly you read.
5. Papers:
All papers (individual or group) be double-spaced and submitted in Times New Roman 11-point font.
Unless provided by the subject specialist, individual and group written papers and assignments shall be
limited to 250 words excluding the references.
6. Grading Policy/ System
ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Midterms exam 30
Final exam 40
Total 100
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2.50 79-81 Average
2.75 76-78 Fair
3.00 75 Passed
5.00 Below 74 Failed
7. Plagiarism Clause:
When writing a paper (or essay exam), you must identify the nature and extent of your intellectual
indebtedness to the authors whom you have read or to anyone else from whom you have gotten ideas (e.g.,
classmates, invited lecturers, etc.). You can do so through footnotes, a bibliography, or some other kind of
scholarly device. Failure to disclose your reliance on the research or thinking of others is Plagiarism, which
is considered to be the most serious academic offense and will be treated as such.
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Introduction:
This course is an introduction to the study of politics and governance on the Philippine context, with
focus on its contemporary issues and problems. This includes the study of state and its formation,
political theories and systems, and government and governance concepts. This also incorporates the
study of the 1987 constitution and will be used as the basic framework and tool for analysis in
understanding Philippine politics.
Learning Objectives:
➢ Introduce the students the basic concepts of politics and governance including the structure and
processes of the Philippine Government;
➢ Facilitate the students’ grasp on the basic political theories and system;
➢ Enable the students to understand Philippines Constitution, politics and governance in their
contemporary setting, issues and problems.
➢ Acquaint the students of their rights and obligations as citizens to better participate in the political
and societal transformation of the country.
Learning Outline:
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Week 1
o (counter-thesis) Marx’s politics can be without the state, man versus nature during the
primitive societies
➢ Exercise of power
➢ Conflict resolution
➢ Group negotiation
What is Power?
What is Politics?
➢ Max Weber, a German philosopher simply states that politics is the struggle for power.
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➢ He is of the view that it is about how individuals and classes of people get and keep political
power. I.e.
political positions, struggle of actors, resource distribution and out competing competitors etc.
➢ David Easton was of the view that politics is authoritative allocation of values in a
society. It’s the struggle between and among actors pursuing conflicting desires on public issues.
Activity:
Make a 250- word (citations not included) thought paper which answers the question: “Is Everything
Political?”
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Week 2
➢ Ideological Power, which emerges from the fact that humans seek to operate in terms of
meanings, norms and rituals. It is ideologies that meet these needs. As such, ideological power
can be ‘transcendent’, standing apart from society in a sacred way, such as religion, or
‘immanent’, dispersed through society by group cohesion and a sense of shared membership.
➢ Economic Power, which derives from production, distribution, exchange and consumption. It is
best expressed through a class structure.
➢ Military Power from competition for physical survival. It produces direct control within a
concentrated centre and the effect of indirect coercion on surrounding areas.
➢ Political Power, which comes from the control of a physical territory and its population by a
centrally administered regulation, concentrated in the
state.
• power should be understood as the ability of ‘bringing about of consequences’ power involves the
production of causal effects.
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• This is the ability to influence others by shaping what they want (or at
least think they want).
• This is power best understood as ideological indoctrination, to shape people’s preferences, so that
conflict largely remains concealed and dormant.
1. Coercive: comes from one’s ability to punish someone else for noncompliance.
2. Reward Power: comes from one’s ability to issue rewards.
3. Legitimate Power: comes from a person’s formal right to issue directives or commands because
of their position in the organization.
4. Expert Power: comes from one’s experience or knowledge.
5. Referent Power: comes from being trusted or respected.
Theory of Power
Mosca:
➢ The group’s training, socialization, education and life experiences all supported
this.
➢ the ruling group consists of all the separate ruling minorities in a society, a political elite, which is
both a necessary and inevitable feature of society.
Pareto:
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• Concentration of power in any
one individual or grouping is simply not possible in any complex society.
• Rather, it should be recognized that political power is both fragmented and widely dispersed.
Weber:
➢ while class interests tend to predominate in advanced capitalist democracies, ruling alliances are
also determined by
status groups and political alliances.
Schumpeter (1976)
➢ Hence, democracy was important as a means of generating responsible government, rather than as
a form of providing power for the majority.
➢ the ruling classes dominate the organization and functions of the state.
➢ political power and the nature and form of the state itself are closely linked.
➢ The economic organization of society and the resultant class structure provide the overriding
roles in determining the nature of the state and patterns of social life.
➢ The state is therefore an extension of civil society, a political apparatus structured and shaped by
class relations.
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➢ a system of interest representation in which the constituent units are organised into a limited
number of singular, compulsory, hierarchically ordered and functionally differentiated categories,
recognised or licensed (if not created) by the state and granted a deliberate representational
monopoly within their respective categories in exchange for observing certain controls on their
selection of leaders and articulation of demands and supports.
(Schmitter, 1974: 93–4)
Activity:
Make a 250- word think piece/ critique of Gloc-9’s song “Upuan”. The piece should identify the gaps
and contexts of the present day socio- political realities in the country and the power that they need to
exercise.
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Weeks 3 & 4
What is a State?
Political Ideology
• it concerns how individuals interpret and understand the world in which they live
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• Althusser (1971, 1977, 1984) in stressing the idea of ideology as a lived experience.
Commonsense experience!
➢ ideology is understood in terms of sets of ideas, meanings and practices, which, although
represented as universal truths, are actually supporting the power of particular social groups.
➢ The process of producing these maps of meanings, maintaining and reproducing such ideas as
authoritarian and dominant, is
what Gramsci calls ‘hegemony’.
Activity:
Each member of the class shall compose a group of 5 members. Each group shall list down the states per
continent; list their number of population and total land area from largest to smallest
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Weeks 5 to 8
➢ The standard approach of the study of local politics has been to view power relations in terms of
PATRON-CLIENT NETWORKS .
➢ Usually seen in rural areas where land ownership is the source of wealth and power
➢ Factionalism and Kinship or clan relations are seen as the major divisions in patron client
relationships
➢ Under Peripheral Capitalism land owners ceased to be the only source of local elite rules when
it comes to new elites that are linked to modern sectors
➢ Reliance on kinship will not suffice to insure continuity of power of local clans
➢ Patron Client system is not seen as the representation but a product of social formation
➢ Before colonization datus ruled the land. But due to colonialism the head of the barangays were
given a privileged social class (principalia)
➢ Like the Latin American Caciques they were tasked to collect tax and were exempted from
paying tribute and forced labor
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➢ The Pueblo were headed by the cabeza then the principalia chose among them a
Gobernadorcillio ( 3 nominies by 12 seniors and chosen by the alcalde mayor)
➢ Principalia under colonial rule developed into a hereditary class which led to the birth of Political
Clans in the Philippines
➢ Due to Colonial Patronage the principalia were able to acquire private property in terms of land
➢ With the constant privilege they began to attach “Don” to their names like the Spanish “
Hidalgo”
➢ The principalia settled in the Poblacion or Cabecera which became the locus of power
➢ They also got the privilege of Spanish education and the Spanish Language
➢ Through marriage with the Chinese gave birth to the local elite had a mestizo appearance
➢ As the political intermediaries to the locals the principalia were oppressive impositions of
tributo, servicios, and bandala (forced selling of crops)
➢ After the rule of the Spaniards the Americans came and took the previously owned by the Spanish
religious orders and auctioned them off to the public
➢ The local elites with their resources and education purchased these thus expanding their
acquisitions
➢ The elections were also exploited by the local clans and dynasties
➢ With the Americans wanting to gain the trust of the Filipinos they held the first elections in 1902
➢ But with the elections came qualifications that were rare at that time and were only met by the
elite which assured the outcome of the elections
➢ Under the Municipal Code of 1901 the candidates were limited to only males, at least 23 years
old, literate in English and Spanish, Held municipal office before August 13 , 1898, owned
property worth 250 US Dollars or payed tax of 15 USD
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Parties and Congress: Creating National-Level Clan Linkages
➢ First political parties were established by the middle class to challenge aristocracy
➢ However the political parties were held by the elites themselves to consolidate their power
➢ Electoral parties created a mechanism for creating national linkages to local political clans in the
country
➢ The birth of Congress gave way for the local politicians to gain national power
➢ Due to urbanization and migration of the people in the postcolonial period and the lifting of
candidacy restrictions
➢ This may be true for localities close to the urban areas where clan royalties diminished
➢ The electoral debacles of traditional clans such as the Laurels in Batangas and the Sumulongs of
Rizal
Capital and Market penetration: Transforming the Socioeconomic Foundations of Rural Politics
➢ Due to the change in the market and urbanization and certain circumstances that allow not only
the political elites to go into politics but also those who come from non landowning families but
those who are also associated in modern sectors broke down the exclusive power monopoly of the
elites
➢ The old clans who were able to survive the political shift are those who were able to expand their
agrarian based wealth to expand into more modern commercial and manufacturing ventures
➢ Due to the changes in Capital and Market resulted in depersonalization of patronage relations
➢ Clan Segmentation where a clan is organized into a faction which enters into a political conflict
to increase its control over resources
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➢ Political Machine- organizations inside Political Parties, Power is centralized, members are
motivated by divisible material.
➢ These incentives are used to employ a vote getting machine to gain electoral victory
➢ Congressional patronage to the local elites was important in the pre martial law area due to the
mutual benefit but changed with the declaration of martial law
➢ Even before the imposition of martial law the state’s law and resource base has been expounded
enormously
➢ State expansion and income was exhibited in the year 1946-1971 and even greater in 1972-1984
➢ The exercise of a powerful technocracy was introduced in the Macapagal presidency but in the
Marcos presidency with backing led the nation into a export oriented strategy fueled by foreign
investments and foreign loans
➢ The image of “Credit Worthiness” allowed the Marcos regime to borrow from international
lending institutions
➢ With enormous capital the state imposed its role as chief patron by massive spending on
infrastructure projects and in building the bases of presidential cronies
➢ The martial law also demobilized Congress and deregulating electoral competition
➢ This diminished local elite power and monopolized state power began sending funds straight to
the barangay
➢ The rise of the Aquino presidency allowed for the reinstallation of formal trappings of democracy
such as competitive elections and Congress
➢ This weakened central state authority and strengthened local elite economy again
➢ But the state still exercises autonomy because of the control of machinery and resources
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➢ Congress and Local politicians developed a certain dependence on the state to gain resources that
could satisfy once again the patronage expectations
➢ State patronage and state expansion in the local politics cannot be ignored and is instrumental to
breaking political dynasties due to state support
Activities:
Make a250- word (citations not included) reflection paper on what are the peculiarities of Philippine
politics with other Southeast Asian countries.
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Weeks 10 to 13
Datus swaggered their lands and ownings over the other datus and complained to officials in Manila when
it comes to the appointing of certain candidates
• Patron-Client relationships were used to describe the layout of Philippine Politics back then
• The only flaw is that is focused not on group demands but on particular demands of potential
clients
• Factional competition was rampant in these times and led to the two party system present in
politics today
• The competition gave birth to the system of Clientlist democracy which guarantees that the
political system will be responsive to the client demands thus somehow like the democratic
system
• 2 models were used to show the impact of external economic and political forces in Patron-Client
systems in the rural Philippines
• One portrayed the economic growth and penetration of national bureaucratic institutions into
local politics
• The change from avocational people from well known families were being replaced by mobile
men in more humble backgrounds which led to the breakdown of local factions
• The other model was at the penetration of capitalism in the Philippine countryside and
commercialization and the disrupted the traditional Patron Client Relationships
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• This resulted in even more growing inequality and the bargaining powers of land owners
• The endurance of Patron-Client Relations is because of its power and utility and mutual benefit
gained
• The Patron-Client relation is seen as problematic in a sense that it fails to see the autonomy of
local politics from national level factors and people in power
• Due to the need of Patrons for clients to continue to support them it gives a wrong sense of
democracy and an overall responsiveness to the needs of their clients
• The rejection of Patron-Client system led to new questions about local politics
• If political leaders enjoy the benefits of autonomy from state control then it retards economic and
political development
• If local political leaders depend not on distribution of patronage but on the resources to acquire
and retain their power
• Caciquism refers to the rule of local chiefs or bosses (caciques) and depends on Latin-style
“macho” charisma through women and violence with his right-hand men who he must secure
through Patron-Client relations and gift giving
• This was due to the expansion of Lands followed by fierce and blood competitions among the
hacienda land owners backed by their personal private army
• Colonial states in an effort to control the regions delegated control to state militia to these locals
• Who later headed guerilla units with great influence during the wars for independence
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• The local bosses made a shadow government behind the façade of the constitutional and
republican regimes
• External threats and demands led to local rebellions that Beijing could not suppress without the
mobilization of local gentry-led political armies
• This was due to weak central powers led to many men under arms but with weak loyalties to the
central state to lead them
• Land hunger and unemployment led to banditry and made thousands available for private
recruitment which gave birth to a system of Warlordism
• The country was divided into many separate independent areas each with a separate militarist as
the supreme power
• The warlords acted as the government and maintained power over their bases
• The Mafia is an organized crime group led by a Don which relied on strong loyalty, kinship ,
obedience, and sometimes violence
• The Mafioso or Mafiosi were recruited within the ranks of the peasants to provide large state
owners with the armed staffs to confront the state and resistive peasants
• Also the weakness of the state and disrupted patron-client relationships and made the people land
hungry and unemployed this means that they will rely on the Mafia for protection
• The balance of forces between landlords means that they enjoyed local power will full autonomy
and local power monopolies
• The best representation of the Mafia is seen in Gangs of New York, Scarface, and The Godfather
• All of the 3 types of basis of local power presented beforehand have things in common
• Charismatic or men with a large fortune were in power, Weak central power of the state,
Personalistic , Institutionalized, Local power monopolies outside central state control
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• Threat of violence and the mobilization of private armies play an important role in political
competition
• Moreover the private armies of the Caciques, Warlords, and the Don fit the description of the
Sultan’s Staff
• Local Kingpins ( Asiong Salonga, Arturo Porcuna( Boy Golden), Leonardo Manecio ( Nardong
Putik)
• The local structure of local Sultanism in the Philippines falls well and has a striking similarity to
the Petty Sultanism previously mentioned
• This led to a rule of violence and mobilization of armed personal followings in the postwar
Philippine politics
• With the declaration of martial law the overall structure of the Petty Sultanism was interrupted.
And it claimed that over 145 political private armies of local warlods were disbanded and over
500,000 firearms and 1.5 million rounds of ammunition at the dispersal of the Kingpins
• Also with the Japanese occupation the state had much success in overcoming resistance in the far
off regions
Activities:
Group activity: Each group will interview 20 schoolmates and determine what the respondents’ political
ideologies are by asking them how they feel about the 3 hottest political issues of the day.
Individual Paper: Identify three political clans in your locality/ city. Identify who are the national/ top
level politicians that your three political clans are linked into.
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Week 14
What is Governance? Comparing Governance vs Government
Governance
➢ Determines who has power (authority) who makes decisions, how other players make their voice
heard (decision making) and how account is rendered.
➢ The exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of political
affairs (NEDA, 1998).
Government
➢ Essential instrument or macjinery of the state that carries out its will, purposes and objectives.
➢ Through this, the state maintains its existence and carries on its functions.
➢ An institution by which society’s needs for social services are satisfied and by which men’s
conflicting interests are reconciled.
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Source: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/environmental-studies/climate-change-
transitions-sustainability/content-section-3.2.1
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Bad Governance vs Good Governance
Activities:
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Weeks 15 to 16
➢ Some scholars argue that the dominance of political dynasties in the political arena has a
pernicious effect on public goods provision.
➢ Concentration of power within one family negates accountability to the electorate and deters
challenges from high-quality, reform-oriented candidates.
➢ In a polity where client-patron relations are prevalent, there is a risk that politicians would focus
on escalating the delivery of public goods immediately before elections occur instead of
consistently providing these public goods throughout their tenure.
➢ If reelection is driven not by consistent performance but rather by pedigree and client-patron
relations preceding the elections, there is less incentive to pursue long-term infrastructure projects
and policy reforms that provide incremental benefits.
➢ Jeffrey Winters’ (2011, p. 6) categorization of oligarchs captures the enduring presence of
political dynasties in the Philippines because dynastic politicians protect their exclusive social
positions in society by using material resources that they do not personally own, a manifestation
of predatory rent seeking.
➢ Paul Hutchcroft’s (1998) analysis of the historical evolution of the patrimonial and predatory
nature of Philippine politics portrays dynasties in politics and in the banking industry as oligarchs
who are partly responsible for the country’s economic underdevelopment.
➢ dynastic incumbents deliver public goods only when the next scheduled elections are around the
corner. Dynastic families look at political office as rents, using resources allocated for economic
and infrastructure development to buy votes (a private good) or accumulate wealth.
➢ This relationship between patrons (dynasties) and clients (voters) is enhanced through contingent
exchange, monitoring, and predictability (Kitschelt & Wilkinson, 2007).
➢ Political families develop linkages with clients who have been and will be loyal in each and every
electoral cycle. Whether clients receive politicized goods, which include “targeted jobs,
promotions, discretionary access to scarce or highly subsidized goods such as money, land, public
housing, education, utilities, or social insurance benefits” (Kitschelt & Wilkinson, 2007, p. 11), is
contingent on their loyalty to the patrons in power.
➢ Thus, there is the need for patrons to put in place procedures that constantly monitor voter loyalty
in each electoral cycle. So long as these mechanisms of exchange and monitoring are in place,
dynastic families can rely on a predictable stream of votes.
Activities:
Individual Activity: Identify at least 5 issues of governance in your locality, barangay or city.
Individual Activity: Make a 250- word (citations not included) reflection paper on how one can contribute
to governance?
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Week 17
You were born in U.S. or in one of its territories (jus soli and jus sanguinis)
One (or both) of your parents were U.S. citizens when you were born
You were less than 18 years old when your parent(s) were naturalized.
➢ Naturalized citizens have all the same rights as natural born citizens except the ability to be
President or Vice President.
➢ You can give up your citizenship, or it can be taken away if you attempt to overthrow the
government.
➢ Rights
BENEFITS of citizenship
➢ Duties
REQUIREMENTS of citizenship
➢ Responsibilities
EXPECTATIONS of citizenship
Rights
Right to vote
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o Right to assemble
o Right to privacy in all matters in which the rights of others are not violated
➢ Serve on a jury
➢ Serve as a witness
➢ Pay taxes
➢ Attend school
Responsibilities
➢ Voting
➢ Influencing government
Activities:
1. Individual Activity: write a 250-word reflection paper: Who am I as a citizen? How did (can) I
one contribute to political and social transformation?
2. Letters to Politicians: Each student will write a letter to any politician on certain issue(s) that
concerns the country.
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References:
1. Chapters 1, 3, and 5 in Heywood, Andrew. Politics, 4th edition. Basingstoke/ New York:
Palgrave Macmillan 2013.
2. Chapters 1 & 2 in Atienza, Maria Ela L.(ed) Introduction to Philippine politics: local politics, the
state, nation-building, and democratization, Quezon City, The University of the Philippines Press,
2013, 241 pp., ISBN 978-971-542-722-7
3. What_is_Politics_Robinson_Crusoe_Deep_Ecology_and_Immanuel_Kant
https://www.academia.edu/20600118/Tony_Burns_What_is_Politics_Robinson_Crusoe_Deep_E
cology_and_Immanuel_Kant.pdf
12. The Effect of Political Dynasties on Effective Democratic Governance: Evidence From the
Philippines by Tusalem, Rollin F., Pe-Aguirre, Jeffrey J.
https://booksc.xyz/book/22074246/845cbe
13. THE PHILIPPINES: Governance Issues Come to the Fore by Miriam Coronel Ferrer
https://booksc.xyz/book/49437169/ad0209
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