Social Origins Of Political Institutionalization In Philippines And South Korea

Informal politics, though acknowledge being existent in many countries, if not all, around the world has long evaded a definite definition. Different countries might have different form of informal politics, but this form of politics is most observable in non-western countries were political institutionalizations are weak compared to western countries. More than the lack of definite definition of the concept of informal politics, the degree of its influence on political institutionalization remains unknown.In Philippines and South Korea, two forms of informal politics are very distinct. In Philippines, it is the Political dynasties. Political dynasties are families who control or wields great amount of power in the government for a long period of time, decades. A quick example of a scenario is when the father is the Provincial Governor, the mother is the Province vice-governor, the son is a town Mayor and the daughter is a cabinet member. Political dynasties are more common and noticeable in provinces since you can only control so much area for your influence without being challenge by another influential family. South Korea’s form of informal politics is the concept called Regionalism. This concept simply means that Korean people vote based on where the candidates is born or the political party where he belongs to and without consideration to the political platform. A scenario is Kim Dae Jung, a presidential candidate in1972elections and is fro Jeolla province obtained90%of the votes form that region. While Park Chung Hee on that same election and is from Gyeongsang province garnered70%of the votes from his region.Interestingly, the number of members in the congress from political dynasty since1987have been increasing which interprets that the election of politicians belonging to political clans in the Philippines are becoming more and more acceptable. In the8th Congress (1987-1992) there were122members,9th Congress (1992-1995)128members,10th Congress (1995-1998)156members and12th Congress (1998-2001)140members, at present160members. However, political dynasties are more observable in local politics than national politics this is because a certain region or territory is easier to control since it’s smaller so the circle of influence is concentrated on a particular province than in a national level where in it’s hard to sprung influence. Even political parties in the Philippines are dominated by political dynasties.In South Korea, Presidential Elections of1972,1987,1992,1997,2002,2007,2012and National Assembly Elections, political parties originating from Jeolla Region dominated all1984,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2008and2012. In some elections political parties just change the names but the region of origin is still the same.This manner of voting by the respective countries’ populace can be summarized as "What’s your last name?" and "Where are you from" in Philippines and South Korea, respectively.Why do people vote in this manner? How can a political family stay in power for such a long period of time? How can a single region be so dominant in election results? These are the questions this thesis will answer. Also, to provide and understanding on how political actors use informal politics to create institutions. How informal politics constrains voter’s choice. Highlight and give an insight of the difference in political institutionalization amongst western and non-western countries.Though there are two countries as the cases, Philippines and South Korea, this is not a comparative analysis. There’s nothing comparable between the informal politics of these two countries. They are just cases to prove our argument and provide evidences. The only common ground between these two cases is the tool that political actors used or created to hid the informality of their social origins-political party,In Chapter2we explained the theoretical concept that a critical juncture or an important event in history help shaped up the rise of regionalism and political dynasty as a concept of social origin. In Philippine’s case, during the Spanish colonization era, they appoint a local family to have a certain amount of authority over other Filipino people. They were called Illustrados. When the Americans came, they did the same to decentralize certain amount of authority to few chosen family. And as time goes by, this mentality of looking up to a certain family was instilled in the minds and culture of Filipinos. In South Korea’s case, during the election between Park Chung Hee and Kim Dae Jung in1972, Kim Dae Jung’s political strategy to get votes is to antagonize every region by arguing that Park was marginalizing other regions by being biased in terms of economic benefits and political appointments to the people coming from his region. And then came Kim Jong Pil from Chungchong province who argued, why does the Gyeongsang and Jeoll aprovince have representative, how about us? Thus the start of region-based politics in South Korea.As these informal politics became more and more influential, they needed something to institutionalize these social origins. An institution were they can control and blend in with the formal institutions-political parties. What institution more legitimate and accepted way to wield and obtain power in a democratic country than a political party as a vehicle to win elections. So the political actors behind these social origins created political parties.The patron-client system of politics is also existent on these two informal politics. The patron client-system of "you scratch my back I scratch yours","as long as you provide I’m your client, as long as you deliver I’m your patron." In Philippines, the big or national level political dynasties have their smaller or local level political dynasties. In South Korea, the patron are the dominant political-party personality based on regions and the clients are the political leaders of the region.These thesis then implies that the voter’s choice are constrained by these informal politics due to the fact that the political parties created serves the interest of the political actors behind the informal politics. It may look like you have a choice on different political parties, but at the end of the day, they are all controlled by these two informal politics in the respective countries.