Description
Book SynopsisThis book discusses how in a Philippine context, the bureaucracy and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is dysfunctional and that corruption has a ubiquitous impact on governance and administration that has defined how that states operate. Scholars and commentators have described Philippine democracy as a paradox. This book uses the unprecedented May 2010 synchronized automation of elections an attempt at electoral engineering to better understand the lingering paradox of Philippine politics and its public administration system
Trade Review“Going well beyond patronage and clientelism, the traditional paradigm of Philippine politics, Vicente Chua Reyes, Jr., deepens our understanding of the contested character of the country’s flawed and fragile democracy. Examining the Philippines’ very first automated national elections in 2010 and drawing from social capital theory, Reyes cogently illustrates how ‘networks of trust’ and ‘networks of distrust’ interact, overlap and compete for power among actors in electoral exercises.” -- Nathan Quimpo, University of Tsukuba
Table of ContentsChapter One: The Pathological Philippine Public Administration System: Dysfunctional Bureaucracy, Systemic Corruption and Weak Rule of Law Chapter Two: Patronage Politics and Patron-Client Ties: Interrogating Dominant Paradigms Chapter Three: Corruption, Electoral Reforms and Wicked Problems: Assessing Automation of Elections as Electoral Engineering Chapter Four: May 2010 Automated Elections for the Office of the President: Reformation Or Restoration? Chapter Five: May 2010 Automated Elections for Philippine Senators: Change Or Continuity? Chapter Six: Networks of (Dis)Trust: Theorising beyond Patronage Politics
