The Philippines Democracy
This comment should be roughly 600 words in length.
Critical comments. 1200 words total, 20% of final grade. Students will be required to submit written critical comments on readings for two of the twelve weeks of the semester, one prior to the midterm and one after the midterm. Each should be roughly 600 words in length, and each is worth 10% of the final mark.
At the first tutorial sessions, on Friday 29 July, you will be asked to sign up for the two weeks for which you will contribute critical comments. (When there are not adequate numbers of volunteers for a given week, it may be necessary for the convenor to be more proactive in ensuring a roughly equal distribution of critical comments across sessions.) The critical comments are to be submitted by 11:55 pm on the Wednesday evening prior to the relevant Thursday lecture and Friday tutorials. For example, those of you writing a critical comment on the readings for Week Two (with lecture on Thursday 4 August and tutorials on Friday 5 August) will need to submit the assignment by 11:55 pm on Wednesday 3 August.
The critical comments are to be submitted via Turnitin as well as via the forum section of Wattle (where there will be one forum established for each tutorial). They will thus be submitted not only to the professor but to all participants in your respective Wattle forum, and be used (particularly in the second half of the semester) as springboards for tutorial discussions. See style guidelines below, and please also ensure that the critical comments are formatted such that they fit on two pages and do not spill over onto a third page.
These comments will examine the assigned readings for the week, and should focus on an issue, question, or problem raised by the readings. Your task is not to summarize the readings, but rather to examine critically and comparatively some aspect of the author or authors' arguments, evidence, conclusion, and/or interpretation. Some of the questions you might examine are: What is the main argument of the author or authors? What evidence is brought to bear? Are you convinced by the conclusion? What do you see as particular strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or gaps that deserve further attention? What alternative explanations or interpretations might you find convincing? How does the analysis relate to other analyses assigned either for the same week or for previous weeks? What interesting comparative questions come forth as you relate this analysis to relevant analysis of another country?
General guidelines. Critical comments and the take-home examinations should be submitted in Word, and should be double-spaced with 12-point font and reasonable margins. Be sure to include page numbers and to proofread your work carefully prior to submission.
The Philippines Democracy
The Philippines has been an active and functioning democratic state since 1946, when it gained independence from the United States. However, the country was subjected to 14 years of dictatorship by Ferdinand Marcos between 1972-1986, who imposed the country under martial law (Anderson, 1988). Representative democracy was restored under the administration of President Aquino by the 1987 constitution, which re-established an independent judiciary, a bicameral legislature, a multiparty system, and a presidential limitation to one 6-year term. Despite the massive transformations, the Philippines' democratic system remains flawed, with the politics still dominated by small, robust, and limited participation of citizens outside of elections.
The indications of a dynamic democracy in the Philippines have been substantial in the past three decades. The voter turnout for general and mid-term elections has been impressive since 1992. The 2010 campaigns and electoral process demonstrated a deep involvement of the independent media, non-governmental organizations, and volunteers in ensuring free and fair elections. According to Dressel (2011), this was unmatched and remarkable progress in the region as per the provisions of the 1987 constitution, which provided rigorous independent institutions for accountability and monitoring of government agencies. Besides showing signs of recovery, the Philippines' democratic procedures remain flawed and fragile compared to other countries in the region. Concerns about the capacity and quality of democracy in the Philippines remain a central question of debate. Elite dominance in government institutions and policy-making still makes initiating policy and constitutional changes challenging. Accountability is critically low, with weakening independent institutions and citizens limiting their capacity to self-organize themselves to pressure the government.
Despite the Philippines borrowing many aspects of its government and democracy from the United States, overwhelming disparities can be noted when comparing the democracy of the two countries. U.S. democracy has long been viewed as one of the most robust world democracies with substantial influences on the political systems of other countries. Unlike in the Philip...