A Study Of Family Politics In The Process Of Democratization In The Philippines

In the third-wave of democratization, Philippine was a good example of the southeast Asia region taking the lead to achieve the democratic transition. Although Philippine was known as "showcase of democracy in the East", its process of democratization was full of twists and turns. The democratic transition of Philippine undergoes a tortuous process, including the introduction of democracy, establishment of authoritarian rule and regression of democratization. Alonged with the process was continous political turmoil, economy recession and the polarization of rich and poor. As the first country introducing the democracy, why Philippine developed descend to a typical failure of democratic politics? From so many factors contributing to the Philippine democratization, the family politics cloud is one of the most significant factors in the Philippine political circles.This thesis wants to study the family politics of Philippine’s democratic process. The first part unscrambles the connotation of the family politics, the formation and development process of Philippine family politics whose characteristics and main causes are discussed. The second part defines three periods of Philippine democratization. The author analyses the impacts of family politics on the process of Philippine democratization from party politics, economic development, cultural values and social structure, especially discusses their obstructive aspects of the process. The third part analyses the counterproductive impacts of Philippine democratization on the development of family politics. Based on the analysis, the author designs the development path of Philippine family politics. The idea hopes to help Philippine out of democratic dilemma through family politics’adapting to Philippine democratization on political aspect, economic aspect and cultural aspect. The last part generalizes the study of Philippine family politics and some implications to the other East Asian countries, pointing out the shortcomings of current study and the direction of future efforts.