Archives

a.The Philippine technocracy and the politics of economic decision-making
b.Social movements, anti-globalization movements, global civil society movements
c.Comparing the Basque and Moro separatist movements

As a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, I am working on the Philippine technocracy and the politics of economic decision making. This research is an offshoot of the 3-year (2007-2010) JSPS- research project I was involved in on “Economic Policymaking and the Philippine Development Experience, 1960-1985: An Oral History Project” where we interviewed key technocrats mainly during the martial period (1972-1986). One of the more important aspects which have emerged from these interviews which I am writing about is the role of the Philippine technocracy in confronting the political challenges with regards to the formulation and implementation of their economic policies during the martial law period. There are two dimensions of the challenges which I am looking into. One is the general challenge to their development strategy which emphasized on liberalization and the promotion of an export-oriented industry. The other is concerning the governance issue of transparency and accountability in the implementation of these economic policies. With regards to the sources of the political challenges to the technocracy, I am examining the following: 1) working under an authoritarian state, specifically, under a strong leader, President Ferdinand Marcos; 2) dealing with a powerful First Lady, Mrs. Imelda Marcos; 2) the dynamics among the personalities in the Cabinet; 3) the persistence of patronage politics and corruption as exemplified by cronies and political dynasties; 4) challenges from the military; 5) challenges from the business community; and, 5) challenges from social movements.