Political Clientelism, Developmentalism and Postcolonial Theory

(Lande, 2002)
Iletos criticism on Landes work
The model Clientelism was used to essentialize Philippine society and
politics
The concept of development was used in a manner that denigrated
Philippines and was seemingly designed to justify American colonial rule
by focusing on difference
Ileto criticized American scholars for downplaying two other aspects of
Phil. Politics
1. Scholars faulted for seeing elite politicians as only self-serving stromen
Elites patriotic motives overlooked, esp. those who led the common
people even while protecting familial interests
2. Also for depicting masses as blind, passive tao
Power also flows from bottom up and indebtedness is not oppressive,
but reciprocal
Lande specializes in comparative politics
Intrigued w/ features of the existing political party system in the 50s

Political Clientelism
Clientelism supplement for class / interest group analysis ; important
element in comparative political analysis
Predominance at elections of two nation-wide and competitive but
virtually identical political parties
Most important feature during the postwar decades (faulted by Ileto
when Lande called them peculiarities)
Both major political parties were led by wealthier classes or their
representatives who were the main beneficiaries of
government policy and action
Liberals and Nacionalistas monopolized votes of social classes and won
votes of the poor partially by :
suppressing the Hukbalahap movement
collapse of Democratic Alliance
other part of the equation in monopolizing the votes was the upward
flow of votes from ordinary voters to wealthy candidates
through two competing party pyramids of barrio, municipal and
provincial leaders
o in turn there will be a downward distribution of private and
public funds as well as granting of favors among the leaders
and their follower voters
poor voters hope to share in distribution of benefits, thus sacrificing
the vote of their class interests and not voting Left candidates
Party-switching by politicians made easy

If political patron decides to move to the other party, his clients will
follow him
Importance of regional loyalties in elections for nation-wide offices
Presidential aspirants have heavily depended on the support of leaders
and voters in their home region
Presidential candidates who made distinctive policy appeals have been
few in number including:
Miriam Defensor-Santiago ; won public support due to good govt
campaigns
Jovito Salonga ; appealed to nationalistic voters and believers of
social reform
Joseph Estrada; won the support of the poor by being faux-populist
Reciprocity essence of clientelism
As said by Ileto, political power is not only a repressive power
emanating from above but that it circulates throughout the social body
and enables the rule of big men
Developmentalism
Ileto criticized Landes work for continuing colonial discourse
Perspective of evolutionary devt that sees West as having developed
prior to East
Lande not interested in distinction bet. West or East, but by process of
modernization
Modernization came earliest in the West and brought changes to social,
political and economic institutions
Rebuttal on Iletos criticism by comparing Switzerland and Afghanistan
Ileto criticized Lande for essentializing Phil. culture and behavior
Asserted that these were fixed and have never really changed
Lande : clientelism is a function of the economic dependency of the poor
Will become less widespread if economy becomes more productive
and the poor less dependent on personal or governmental patrons
Motives

Ileto criticized Lande of being more than a passive observer

Lande purportedly fearing that American style party system will
cease to be the sole vehicle of politics
Lande purportedly favoring constitutional democracy (which he does)
Lande responded by saying that he hopes for Philippine democracy
to be truly democratic by becoming more participatory and equal
despite being constitutional
Critical Theory
Lande criticized by Ileto for feminization of Philippine politics
Lande rebutted by saying that he only described reality

 Lande : Patronage politics in a setting of closely competitive political

parties that were distinguishable except for the names of their
leaders made party-switching a rational choice both for male and
female politicians
Lande described Ileto as being an adherent of the postmodernist neo-Marxist
approach known as the Critical Theory
Theory aims to expose oppression , domination or hegemony and the
power arrangements that contribute to them
Task of critical scholar : deconstruct works of other writers and expose
how the discourses contribute to such abuses
Skeptic : C.T. as a parlor game where we deconstruct past works
and impose our meanings on them w/o regard for authors
intentions, truth, or falsity of our interpretations
o Thrive in language departments who are not experts in
history/politics
Postcolonial Theory branch of Critical Theory aiming to expose how
Western societies (including scholars) dominate Third World peoples and
undermine the domination
Ileto deconstructed works of American scholars and asserted that they have
helped in maintaining neocolonialism in the Phils.
He claimed that the scholars essentialized Philippines by depicting
it as the negative other
Suggests that Landes work was colored with his friendship with
senators and congressmen
o Lande retorted by saying that getting to know the politicians
was essential in studying their tactics
Weakness of Postcolonial Theory: commits believer to finding what his theory
expects him to find leads to misunderstand/distort reality ; also to assume
malign intent despite having none