POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
and personnel, policies)
UBIQUITOUS- common recognition
among competing definitions of
politics and the study of politics;
politics is always present with our
everyday engagements with
schools, at home, organizations
and workplaces
POLITICS AFFECTS EVERYONE-
desirable or not, it affects people
from all walks of life
DESIRABLE POLITICS- important
to the functioning of any society or
community
UNDESIRABLE POLITICS-
associated with undesirable
practices and outcomes (e.g.
violence, corruption, fraud, etc.)
A. POLITICS AS ARENA – follows
a formalistic conception of politics;
limits the politics to the state and all
its instrumentalities and related
institutions (law, hierarchy of offices
and OUTCOMES- are understood
-also associated with narrow
sense of political party and/or
electoral politics
B. POLITICS AS PROCESS-
provides a comprehensive view of
politics; goes beyond what the
narrow arena approach offers
-it is not limited to formal
political institutions of the state but
extends to include other institutions
within the society such as the
family, the church and other parts of
the society
-Informal institutions and
political actors that include, but not
limited to Civil Society
Organizations, social movements,
NGOs, people’s organizations,
advocacy groups, etc.
-considers both the formal
political arena and the informal
processes surrounding it as the
corridors of power
DECISION MAKING PROCESS
to be the function of the intersection
of state institutions with all these
informal institutions and actors and
the negotiation of their similar
and/or opposing interest that lead to
actual laws and policies that are
binding to all
C. POLITICS AS GOVERNANCE
DAVID EASTON AND HAROLD
LASSWELL- provide the widely
accepted views that politics is about
governing
Easton- defined politics as the
authoritative allocation of values for
a society and the study of politics
as the understanding how
authoritative decisions are made
and executed for a society
Laswell- described the study of
politics as who gets what, when and
how, which was also the same title
of his seminal book, Politics: Who
Gets What, When And How
D. POLITICS AS ABOUT Governance refers to the web of
GOVERNING formal and informal institutions,
rules, norms and expectations
GOVERNMENT- term generally which govern behavior in societies
used to describe the formal and without which the very idea of a
institutions through which a group human society is impossible
of people is ruled or governed
E. POLITICS AS THE
GOVERNING- includes institutions AUTHORITATIVE OF VALUES
other than those of the government FOR A SOCIETY
that are involved in governing, at
least in the broadest sense Demands and Supports- Inputs
that are fed into the political system
LEFTWICH CAPTURES THE
BROAD NOTION OF Demands- can be anything that the
GOVERNANCE AS citizens and groups in society would
want or ask their governments to
“the general patterns and provide or to respond to
interlocking systems of governing
across both public and private Supports- take the form of a
spheres by which the overall social, favorable political environment
economic and political life of a characterized by the presence of
society is organized and managed, enabling laws and rules, openness
whether democratically or not, of the political system, public
whether there are formal institutions support, etc.
or not, and whether done by
national, international or The Environment (Internal and
transnational agencies and External)- shape how demands
institutions” and supports get fed into the
system and how the system
processes them into decisions and
policies.
Internal Environment- refers to the
actual geophysical,physical and
territorial boundaries of the state
within which the political system
belongs; legally and rightfully
recognized outside and inside the
state
External Environment- confluence
of foreign influences, forces and
dynamics that lie beyond the
boundaries of the state
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
NOTE: not all demands get fed into
the political systems. In terms of
outputs, they do not only take the
form of actual decisions and
specific polices. Outputs could also
mean no decision or no action to be
taken by the government
F. POLITICS AS WHO GETS
WHAT, WHEN AND HOW
-Politics functions like a battlefield
or battleground where political
actors try to subdue each other by
any means to get they want or the
most of what they get, either for
public good or private gain
Alfred McCoy said, “in society that
lacks interest groups organized as
persistent voting blocks based on
categories such as class, religion,
ethnicity or ideology, families are
the units that compete for power
within a local area and combine into
ever changing factions”
G. POWER AND THE THREE
FACES OF POWER
There is no single definition of
power
Political Analysis- the analysis of
the nature, exercise and distribution
of power
1. Decision Making- focuses on
the behavior in the making of
decisions on issues over which
there is an observable conflict
revealed by
Robert Dahl- defined power as “A
getting B would otherwise not do”;
the presence of A makes B do
something would not otherwise do
done
Zero sum Game- A person getting
everything at the expense of
suffering by another person
2. Agenda-Setting: a result of a
critique from the first face;
considers those powerful as those
who sets agenda for political
deliberation
3. Preference Shaping Face-
extends the scope and effect of
power beyond these
situations/other faces of power.
-shaping the preference of
the subordinates; considers those
powerful as those who are capable
of subverting actual interests of
those over whom power is
exercised
Ideological Hegemony- capacity of
bourgeois ideas to displace rival
views and become, in effect, the
common sense of the age
H. POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
IDEOLOGY – defined as political
statements that aim to call upon
massive mass of government action
to achieve better
political/economical condition
IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM
Fredrick Watkins- suggested that
“ideologies come from different
political extremes such as the
conservatives/pro-status, and the
radicals/anti-status quo”
Left Side- liberals, radicals by
nature is anti-status quo; leftists aim
for progressive change
Right Side- Rightist fear
retrogressive change;
conservatives, people who don’t
support and neither against or pro
for change
1. ANARCHISM- opposes the state bourgeois, anti-communist, and so (3) Government- refers to the
and advocate for the abolition of the on formal institutions through which
government; state of lawlessness people are ruled
I. STATE AND NATION IN THE
2. SOCIALISM- believes in the AGE OF GLOBALIZATION (4) Sovereignty- absolute or
utopian visions of a better society supreme exercise of power
where individuals can achieve NATION- a racial and ethnical and expressed in either as
genuine emancipation and therefore a cultural concept; group unchallengeable legal authority or
fulfillment as members of a of people who have shared unquestionable political power
community (central tenet is ethnicity, race and culture
collectivism) GLOBALIZATION- refers to the
STATE-refers to a political entity increasing interdependence of
3. LIBERALISM- central and bounded by a territory and headed markets and production in different
defining principle is the individual by a government countries through trade in goods
freedom which is natural right of STATE: 4 ESSENTIAL and services, cross border flows of
each; favors openness, debate and ELEMENTS capital and exchanges of
self determination. technology
(1) The People- refer to those
4. CONSERVATISM- found on whom the state is obliged to protect Economic globalization-
conserving something, the laws of and provide services to characterized by the
the land are important to preserve internationalization of markets,
social order but not to uphold (2) Territory- refers to well-defined trade, finance, investment;
liberty; maintaining the social physical and geographic privatization, deregulation and pro
hierarchy, order in the society boundaries wherein the state reign market re-regulation; as well as
supreme and where the state’s rapid integration of trade, finance
5. FACISM- they sue on what to exercise of sovereignty is and investment
support and what to disagree, more recognized both inside and outside
firm in what it opposes. Anti- these boundaries J. HISTORY OF DEMOCRATIC
rational, anti-liberal, anti- POLITICS IN THE PHILIPPINES
conservative, anti-capitalist, anti-
January 23, 1899- the Philippines
is among the first Asian countries to
challenge colonial control and to
attempt successfully established
republican democratic order
1899 Malolos Constitution of the
first Philippine Republic- was the
first Asian democracy to be
established, during the Philippine
Revolution that culminated in Asia
President McKinley’s
instructions to the Second
Philippine Commission- on
Organizing and establishing civil
government, including local
governments, and the civil liberties
of the Filipinos
The US Philippine Bill of 1902-
served as the organic act of the
Philippine Government until August
1916, and which authorized the
establishment of the Philippine
Assembly that came into being in
1907
The US Philippine Autonomy Act
of 1916 or Jones Law- enlarged
Filipino Self-rule by the
establishment of all-Filipino
Philippine Legislature
The Tydings McDuffie Law- led
for the promulgation of the
Philippine Constitution for the
Commonwealth and the Republic of
the Philippines
The 1943 Constitution of the
“Philippine Republic”- under the
Japanese Occupation
The 1973 Marcos Constitution-
that was adopted under President
Ferdinand Marcos’s authoritarian
rule which lasted from September
21, 1972 to February 25 1986 (13
yrs)
The 1986 Aquino Freedom
Constitution- under which
President Corazon Aquino ruled in
the year following the EDSA
Revolution
The 1987 Constitution- led the
government and the nation in
reestablishing Filipino democracy
“A history of Political Discontinuity
and Instability”
1. American Colonialism
2. Japanese Colonialism
3. Imposition of Authoritarian rule
by President Marcos in 1972
H. LEGISLATIVE
1987 PHIL CONS
Article VI Section 1. The
legislative power shall be vested in
the Congress of the Philippines
which shall consist of a Senate and
House of the Representatives,
except the extent reserved to the
People by the Provision on initiative
and Referendum
Section 2. SENATE:
24 senators
Section 3. SENATE:
nemonics: NB35,RW,RV 2
NB-Natural Born; 35- 35 years old,
RW- Read and Write, RV-
Registered Voter; 2- 2 years of
residency in the Philippines
Section 4. SENATE:
Term of Office: 6 years
Section 5. HOUSE
OF REP: not more than 250
members, 20% from the partylist
Section 6. HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVE nemonics:
NB25,RW, RV 1
NB-Natural Born; 25- 25 years old,
RW- Read and Write, RV-
Registered Voter; 1- 1 year of
residency
US CONSTITUTION
Article 1 Section 1. Senate and
House of Representatives only
Section 2. House of
Representatives shall be
composed of members chosen
every second year by the People of
the United States
35 years old,7 years citizen in US
Section 3. US SENATOR: 2
senators from each state chosen by
the legis for 6 years; each senator
have one vote
30 years old, 9 years citizen in US
I. EXECUTIVE-
1987 PHIL CONS
Article 7 Section 1. The executive
power shall be vested in the
President of the Philippines
Section 2. NB40,RWRV10
NB-Natural Born; 40- 40 years old,
RW- Read and Write, RV-
Registered Voter; 10- 10 years of
residency
Section 3. Same
qualifications of the President; may
be removed from office in the same
manner as the President
Section 4. VP AND P: 1
term, 6 years. President not eligible
for re-election, vice president shal l
serve for more than 2 consecutive
terms
Section 5. Grounds for
Impeachment: P, VP, Chief Justice,
Associate Justices, Ombudsman,
Members of the Supreme Court and
Constitutional Commissions
US CONSTITUTION:
Article 2 Section 1. The executive
power shall be vested in a
President of USA. Term: 4 years,
same with VP
Quali: NB,3 years old, 14 years of
residency
Section 4. The P, VP and
Civil Officers of the US shall be
removed from office on
Impeachment
J. JUDICIAL/JUDICIARY
1987 PHIL CONS
Article 8 Section 1. The judicial
power shall be vested on the
Supreme Court and in such lower
couts as may be established by
Law
 Section 10. The salary of
Chief Justice and Associate
Justices, and judge shall be fixed
by law. Not diminished
Section 11. SC and judges
can hold their position as long as
they have good behavior until such
time they reach 70 yrs old
(retirement)
US CONSTITUTION
Article 3 Section 1. The judicial
power shall be vested in one SC
and such Inferior Courts as the
Congress may from time to time
ordain and establish. The judges,
SC and Inferior courts shall hold
their offices during good behavior
and receive their services,
compensation that will not be
diminished
K. COLONIAL RULE AND THE
DEMOCRACY PROJECT IN THE
PHILIPPINES
Early 1900s- The Philippine’s
experimentation with democratic
politics began with the colonial rule Corazon Aquino’s father in law
in the country and Father of her Vice President-
among the most prominent of these
American Colonial Rule- collaborators
superimposed on 300 years of
Spanish rule, introduced the Cojuangcos and Aquinos-
institutions and rhetoric of reigned supreme
“democracy” into the Philippines.
Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon
William Howard Taft- central (HUKBALAHAP)- harassed the
figure; first Philippine Governor Japanese and assassinated such
General then US Secretary of War, collaborators as they could reach
US President
1946- the US transferred
Between 1900-1913, Taft placed a sovereignty to the Philippines. For
central role in the formulation of US the 2nd time, PH became an
Policy towards the Philippines, independent republic
largest colony
1954-1972: full heyday of cacique
14% of the population in voting democracy in the country
age was entitled to vote due to age,
gender, linguistic, property and
literacy requirements or
qualifications
December 8,1941- the Philippines
was occupied by the armies of
Imperial Japan. Japan invaded the
PH after its attack on Pearl Harbor