1

Philippine Politics & Governance

First Quarter
Module No. 1 of 6
Concepts in Politics and Governance
Writer: Roland R. Agra

HONOR CODE
AS A MEMBER OF THE NAMUAC ACADEMY EAGLES FAMILY, I WILL CONDUCT
MYSELF WITH INTEGRITY & SINCERITY AT ALL TIMES, DEMONSTRATE COMPASSION &
JUSTICE IN ALL MY ACTIONS, UPHOLD THE VALUE OF EXCELLENCE, AND ABIDE BY THE
EXPECTATIONS SET FORTH IN THE STUDENT HANDBOOK.
I MAKE THIS PLEDGE IN THE SPIRIT OF HONOR & TRUST.

PERFORMANCE TASK IN POLITICS & RELIGIONS

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
1. clearly identify a specific political phenomenon and how it can be studied

TRANSFER GOAL
1. the students on their own and in the long run will show awareness on the relationships between
politics and religions to understand and analyze social, political and religious differences in the
community

GOAL To show awareness on the relationships between politics and religions

ROLE Sociologist, political analyst/scientist
AUDIENCE Sociology and political science students
SITUATION The university in your locality is celebrating an interfaith dialogue to
promote understanding and brotherhood among students who belong to
different sects and have various political inclinations. As a respected
professor in sociology, politics and religion, you were invited to share your
narrative on the influence of religion to a specific political phenomenon.
PRODUCT Slideshow, narrative report, video presentation
STANDARDS Content, accuracy, organization of ideas

21ST CENTURY SKILLS CORE VALUE TASK

CRITICAL THINKING Excellence Show awareness on the relationships between
politics and religions
CREATIVITY
COLLABORATION Justice The learners will work together to come up with a
compliant product
CROSS CULTURAL Compassion Learners will analyze materials from various socio-
UNDERSTANDING political and religious perspectives.
COMPUTER/ICT
CAREER/SELF RELIANCE
COMMUNICATION Integrity The learners will present the details they gathered.

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1

 2

SCORING RUBRIC FOR THE PERFORMANCE TASK

CRITERIA 4 3 2 1
Content The product clearly The product The product The product
conveys an conveys conveys a conveys little
understanding understanding limited or no
of the issue; of the issue; understanding understanding
excellent use uses of the issue; of the issue;
of appropriate appropriate attempts to does not use
symbolism; title symbolism; title use symbolism;
is clear, clever, is clear and symbolism; title is missing.
and relevant to relevant to title is unclear
topic. topic. or irrelevant to
topic.
Accuracy The product is The product is The product is The product is not
accurate and has no mostly focused and somewhat focused and has
errors. accurate, focused and many errors.
Relevant details and has some contains a few
and quotes enrich good details and errors/
the central theme. quotes.
Organization of The product is well The product is The product is The product is
Ideas organized. It has organized. The somewhat hard to follow.
clear transitions and ideas follow a organized but The ideas have
the with ideas a logical sequence. a little hard to no coherence.
following follow. The
a logical sequence. transitions are
sometimes not
clear.

EXPECTATION
S
After going through this module, you are expected to:
1. define politics;
2. identify the various views on politics;
3. differentiate governance from government;
4. explore the connection between the phenomenon (politics) and the method of inquiry (political
science); and
5. recognize the value of politics.

PRE-TEST

Activity 1: What does it mean to be political? Which of the actions do you think are political or are not
political? Write P if the action is political and write NP if it is not.
1. Jovan ran as punong barangay in San Andres.
2. Everyone was dressed up for Nicole’s 18th birthday.
3. Cristina voted for Nancy Binaynay as senator.
4. Two drivers fighting over parking space at Mall of Sanchez Mira.
5. Bryan joined the Sagip KaAgila relief operations in Sitio Nagtutulagan.
HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1
 3

OVERVIEW

Political science does not only involve the state and the government because politics exists in the
family, in school, and even in the streets. It is present in intimate personal relationships, too.

“Man is by nature a political animal.”

– Aristotle, Politics
(Father of Political Science)

Why did the Father of Political Science utter such a statement? Why did he say that man is a
“political animal” and what do you think did he mean by this?

The inclination and interest of people toward anything political is based on the fact that individuals
are inherently social. Unlike other species, humans rely on social interactions to survive. Politics is born
out of these social interactions.

LESSON PROPER

Look at the images below, what term can we associate with it?

Heywood (2013) defined politics as an activity that involves the interaction of people, whose
relationship is characterized by conflict and cooperation, and who come together to solve such
disagreements through binding solutions. However, politics is no utopian solution. There are
disagreements that remain as such.

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1

 4

So, what makes social interaction a political one? Any form of social interaction that involves the
art of government, public affairs, compromise and consensus, or power and distribution of resources is
political. This then gives you the different views on politics according to Heywood, as provided in the
following table.

Views on Politics: Description of Politics

Politics as...
Politics concerns the state. It focuses on the personnel
Art of government and machinery of the government.
Politics is the conduct and management of public interest
Public affairs and therefore, political affairs.
Politics attempts to resolve conflict through discussion,
Compromise and consensus compromise, bargaining, and consensus, wherein
people arrive at a binding decision.

Politics involves the exercise of authority in the

Power and the distribution of resources production, distribution, and use of resources. This
describes who gets what and under what circumstances.

Given the views on politics above, one may think that politics only involves the state or the
government. It must be noted, however, that human beings relate to each other not only in formal
structures but also in collective arrangements such as families, religions, peer groups, or cultures. Power
is also exercised in these types of relationships, making them political as well.

For instance, who decides on specific familial matters is a venue by which authority is manifested.
In religious organizations, the existence of authority is manifested as well in the presence of religious
leaders vis-à-vis the followers.

Study the following pictures. How do you think is politics manifested, characterized, or
symbolized in each of these illustrations?

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1

 5

POLITICS: ARENA VS. PROCESS

• A narrow interpretation of politics identifies politics where politics happens (arena approach)
• A broad definition of politics considers how politics happens (process approach)

Arena approach
• Follows a formalistic conception of politics
• It limits politics to the state and all its instrumentalities and related institutions, hierarchy of offices
and personnel, laws and policies
• It covers activities and actions sanctioned by the state, for example, elections

Process approach
• It covers a comprehensive view of politics
• It does not only cover the formal political institutions but also includes the family, the church, and
other parts of the society
• “Politics comprises all activities of cooperation and conflict, within and between societies,
whereby the human species goes about organizing the use, production, and distribution of
human, natural and other resources in the course of the production and reproduction of its
biological and social life”. (Leftwich)
• It puts premium on the activity of governing or governance, that is how decisions are made and
executed for a society.
• Informal political institutions include but not limited to civil society organizations (CSO), social
movements, non-government organizations (NGO), people’s organizations (PO), advocacy
groups, the Catholic Church and other religious organizations, labor groups, and other sector-
based groups.
• It considers both the formal political arena and the informal processes surrounding it which is
called the corridors of power.
• There are two types of political activities: those authorized by the state and those that challenge
the state
• It does not only focus on elections and other legal means of citizen participation and
representation (sanctioned by the state) but also on organized protests, rebellion, and other
activities that are outside the constitutional and legal framework (challenges the state)
• It considered decision-making process and outcomes as function of the intersection of state
institutions and all these informal institutions and the negotiation of their similar and/or opposing
interests that lead to actual laws and policies that are binding to all (power relations)

POWER RELATIONS
• Politics can be viewed as either power over or power to or both
• “Politics is about winners and losers, influence and coercion, exchange and bargaining, coalitions
and factions, conflict and compromise”-Huckfeldt and Sprague

Study the next set of images. What do these pictures show? What concept are they depicting?

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1

 6

Politics as Governance
• “Politics is the authoritative allocation of values for a society and the study of politics is
understanding how authoritative decisions are made and executed for a society”-Easton
• The study of politics as who gets what, when, and how

Politics as about Governing

1. Government
• It is used to describe the formal institutions through which a group of people is ruled or
governed
• It also includes the persons and organizations that make, enforce and apply political
decisions for a society
• Thus, the government serves as the bridge that connects the people to the state.
• The terms state and government are commonly used interchangeably, but in strict
political science terms, they definitely mean two different things.

2. Governing
• It includes institutions other than those of the government that are involved in governing
• According to Leftwich, these institutions include labor and trade unions, corporations,
universities, church organizations, social movement organizations that are all involved
in one way or another in setting rules or conventions or seeking to do so which govern
some aspects of behaviors of their members

3. Governance
• The general patterns and interlocking systems of governing across both public and
private spheres by which the overall social, economic, and political life of a society is
HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1
 7

organized and managed, whether democratically or not, whether there are formal
institutions or not, and whether done by national, international or transnational agencies
and institutions
• The web of formal and informal institutions, rules, norms, and expectations which govern
behavior in societies and without which the very idea of a human society is impossible
• The informal institutions here are loosely understood as the customs, norms of behavior,
unwritten rules, or generally agreed ways of doing things within a society and
conventions within the culture covering social interaction, marriage customs and burial
ceremonies.

Politics as the Authoritative Allocation of Values for a Society

1. “Politics is a complex set of interaction between inputs and outputs, internal and external
environments, feedback and the political system”-Easton

2. Inputs are demands and supports that are fed into the political system
• Demands can be anything that the citizens and groups in society would want or ask their
governments to provide or respond to (e.x-demands for jobs, better transport system,
clean air and water, better response to a pandemic, health, education, etc)
• Support is a favorable political environment characterized by the presence of enabling
laws and rules, openness of the political system, public support, etc.

3. Outputs are decisions and policies that result out of the political system

4. Environment shapes how demands and supports get fed into the system and how the system
processes them into decisions and policies
• Internal environment is the actual geopolitical, physical and territorial boundaries of the
state within which the political system belongs
• External environment refers to the confluence of foreign influences, forces and dynamics
that lie beyond the boundaries of the state

5. Feedback loop serves as the means to communicate to the political system the response of the
public or the larger society to the decisions and policy outputs of the government

It is important to note that not all demands get fed into the political system. Only when demands
that have supports and when demands become issues that merit government’s resources and response
that the political system processes them. Demands and supports can come from the political system
itself. Outputs could also mean no decision or no action to be taken by the government. When too much
demands and supports enter the political system, it may breakdown. Decision-making is important to
avoid political breakdown.

Authoritative allocation of values for a society is process that is characterized by a scarcity of

resources, an unevenness of the political field, the problem of distribution, as well as the need for a
legitimate authority to decide what can be done, for whom, or for whose benefits, and why.

Politics as Who Gets What, When and How

• Influential are those who get the most of what there is to get in terms of deference, income and
safety or those who get the most are elite and the rest are the masses.

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1

 8

• Politics functions like a battlefield or battleground where political actors try to subdue each other
by any means to get what they want or the most of what they can get, either for public good or
private gain
• The winners reign supreme while the losers join the ranks of the opposition

THE RELATIONSHIP OF POLITICS TO GOVERNANCE

• Politics are how we feel about that process of governance.
• Politics talks about governments, institutions, power, order, and the ideals of justice. Governance
is essentially related to politics, in that politics is often defined as the art of governance.
• Politics is broader than governance while governance is broader than government.
• To study of politics is in essence to study government or more broadly, to study the exercise of
authority. Governance is based on the realization that the government cannot do everything for
the people, so that in order to survive the state should not only rely on government but also on
the other sectors of the society.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF POLITICS TO GOVERNMENT

• Political scientists broadened the meaning of governance as including, not just government’s
actors, but also civil-society actors.
• Politics is the art of government, the exercise of control within the society through the making
and enforcement of collective decisions. (Heywood 1997)- “Government” and “governance” are
interchangeably used, both denoting the exercise of authority in an organization, institution or
state.
• The conception of politics and government move beyond the narrow realm of government to what
is thought as “public life” or “public affairs.”- Government can therefore be seen as one of the
institutions in governance; it is not possible to have governance without government. (Heywood,
1997)

THE RELATIONSHIP OF GOVERNANCE TO GOVERNMENT

Governance transcends government to encompass the business sector and the civil society.
NEDA (2006). While government can have a connotation of being interested only in maintenance and in
preserving peace and order, governance implies leadership toward societal development.
• Government is almost always the main actor in governance.
• The main role of the public sector or government is to provide an enabling environment for the
other actors of governance to participate and respond to the mandate of the common good.
• Governance is especially important in the public sector or government because you’re dealing
with the public’s money, according to Adjunct Professor Nigel Phair GAICD, the director of the
Centre for Internet Safety at the University of Canberra-
• Governance issues pertain to the ability of government to develop an efficient, effective, and
accountable public management process that is open to citizen participation and that strengthens
rather than weakens a democratic system of government- Government can therefore be seen as
one of the institutions in governance; it is not possible to have governance without government.
(Heywood, 1997).

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1

 9

WRAP- UP

You have learned that politics is characterized by an interaction between individuals whose
relationship is characterized by conflict and cooperation. Politics also involves the presence of binding
solutions that will solve such differences, although politics is no utopian solution. A particular form of social
interaction could be considered political if it involves relationships that have something to do with the art
of governance, public affairs, compromise and consensus, and power relations, which all fall within
political research. The ability to determine what is political is important in researching about or studying
politics. The use of particular approaches in political science—whether the scientific, philosophical, or
empirical ones—is crucial in understanding what politics entails.

VALUING

There is obviously “politics” when lawmakers debate intensely over a bill in Congress, or when
the President declares the country in a state of emergency, or when local governments enforce curfews.
But politics can also be silent-when we pay more than what is necessary for goods and services that we
purchase, when we accept rules that we are not even aware of their making, or when we comply without
necessarily understanding why.

Silent or otherwise, politics professes to be dual in its character. On one hand, politics is desirable
because it is important to the functioning of any society or community. On the other hand, politics is
undesirable as it is associated with undesirable practices and outcomes, for example, corruption,
violence, fraud, partisanship, discrimination, etc.

Desirable or not, politics affects everyone. It affects peoples from all walks of life from the
homeless living in esteros and informal settlements to the filthy rich residing in gated villages; from the
hourly-paid laborers in factories to the highly-paid executives in corporations; from the street
parliamentarians to the members of the parliaments; from the unborn to the centenarians; and from the
fanatics to the faithful; and from the ultra-conservative to the queer!

POST-ASSESSMENT

A. Enrichment Activities

You are a political researcher working for a nongovernmental organization whose aim is to help
improve political participation of people. You are asked by the organization’sexecutive director (ED) to
submit a research output on the initial ideas regarding politics of 5individuals in your barangay. In order
to accomplish this, you need to formulate questions that will examine their ideas about the nature of
politics. Your work will be evaluated basedon the content of the interview guide and the presentation of
results. Summarize your findings using the given format. Prepare a presentation using PowerPoint and
be ready to present your output to the ED.

Guidelines for the interview

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1
 10

1. Make sure that the questions are relevant. Give questions that pertain to the respondents’ view
about politics. You may also think of exciting or inviting questions to facilitate the interview. For
example, “What comes into your mind when you hear the term politics?” may be a good way to
start the discussion
2. Ask one question at a time. Avoid double-barreled questions (or those having two questions in
one statement). The respondent may have a hard time identifying which question to answer first.
3. Make sure that the questions are brief and easy to understand. Translate questions to the local
language if needed.
4. Record your interview, but for ethical purposes, ask permission from the respondents first. Taking
down notes will also be helpful in synthesizing the respondents’ answers later on.

Guidelines for the presentation

1. Prepare presentation slides that contain a summary of the results. Introduce the main objective
and then present the results.
2. Use tables and charts to summarize your main points. These are not only for visual
representation, but are also a good way to synthesize your ideas.
3. Check for formatting and visual impact, too. After considering the content of your slides, format
must be the next on your list.

Format for the Presentation of Results

Respondent Main Idea about Politics

1. Name (Optional), Age, Gender

B. Post-Test

Identify the following ideas if they talk about POLITICS, GOVERNANCE or GOVERNMENT.
1. Execution of power
2. Central institution which wields power over its subjects
3. Study and methods of power
4. The exercise of authority
5. Manage of governing, controlling, or directing a State
6. The set-up that governs or managing the country
7. Realm of public affairs of the state
8. Know-how and action to manage a government
9. Doing governing
10. Process by which governance is done

HUMSS Philippine Politics & Religions Q1 Module 1