Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 THE PUZZLE AND THE THEORY
- 2 COMPARING KOREA AND THE PHILIPPINES
- 3 INSTITUTIONS: BUREAUCRATS AND RULERS
- 4 MUTUAL HOSTAGES IN KOREA
- 5 BANDWAGONING POLITICS IN THE PHILIPPINES
- 6 DEMOCRACY IN THE 1980S AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1997
- 7 CONCLUSION: CORRUPTION AND DEVELOPMENT
- Index
2 - COMPARING KOREA AND THE PHILIPPINES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 THE PUZZLE AND THE THEORY
- 2 COMPARING KOREA AND THE PHILIPPINES
- 3 INSTITUTIONS: BUREAUCRATS AND RULERS
- 4 MUTUAL HOSTAGES IN KOREA
- 5 BANDWAGONING POLITICS IN THE PHILIPPINES
- 6 DEMOCRACY IN THE 1980S AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1997
- 7 CONCLUSION: CORRUPTION AND DEVELOPMENT
- Index
Summary
[Martial law] was a liberation – particularly for the business community. … it meant an equalization of opportunity, a breaking down of the old bastions of privilege that had kept political power a captive of economic monopolies. … Having finally freed ourselves from the stranglehold of the old oligarchy, we must see to it that we neither resurrect it nor replace it with a new oligarchy through a cartelization of economic privilege.
– Ferdinand MarcosImagine an Asian country that has enjoyed significant American patronage over the decades. Its people are hardworking and value education and the family. Family ties are so important that scholars and journalists call clans the basic building block of the country, and who one knows matters far more than what one can do. This country has a long history, consisting mostly of being colonized by outside powers. Since World War II, the country has been ruled by a set of elites – quasi dictators and their rich businessmen friends. Within the country its politicians switch parties at the drop of a hat. Party identification means nothing; ideology and programmatic differences are almost absent in elections; political success hinges on personalities, political manipulation, and pork-barrel politics. With episodic regularity, the country's leaders and economic elites have been either arrested or forced into exile because of recurrent corruption scandals. The local press calls corruption “our disease,” and one of the most popular topics of conversation in local drinking halls is the utter lack of qualified leadership in both the economic and the political spheres. Privilege is measured by the extent to which one is an exception to the rules.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Crony CapitalismCorruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines, pp. 21 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002