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Learning about Federalism using Australia’s example Forum of Federations: Videos for Learning about Federalism How will the Government pay for its COVID-19 Expenses? Constitutional Reform First before claiming Sabah! Why Do So Many Filipinos Misunderstand System Change? Lee Kuan Yew’s Speech at the Philippine Business Conference Federalism & Decentralization: Evaluating Africa’s Track Record Juan Linz: The Perils of Presidentialism Frequently Asked Questions (Tagalog) The Parliamentary System can fix Philippine Politics Presidential or Parliamentary – Does it Make a Difference? Federalism in Africa: The Case of Ethiopia – Challenges & Prospects Rediscovering the Advantages of Federalism KITT vs KARR: Systems & Algorithms Matter Why are the Monsods so anti-Constitutional Reform? How does Federalism work? What if we were Parliamentary back in 2009? Marina Bay Sands is One Big Foreign Direct Investment A Head of State and A Head of Government No Parliamentary System, No LKY & No Mahathir Rizal the Federalist; Bonifacio the Unitarian Foreigner: Pinoy Inability to Improve is due to Escapism The Philippines is run like a Mafia Network Tacloban Tragedy: A Painful Wake-up Call Ang Hagupit ng Bagyong Yolanda The Coming Fall of the “Noynoy Project” The Parable of the Mountain Bike US Government Shutdown: The Presidential System Sucks Infographic: Solutions to the Root Causes of the Pork Barrel Nápoles & Pork Barrel: It’s the Lousy System 1987 Constitution Kicks FedEx Out Benign0 is just as clueless as “Benigno” Polls aren’t just for Metro Manila: Why Federalism? Nancy Binay – Don’t hate the player, hate the game! Should the Philippines Turn Parliamentary? Chicken or the Egg: Culture Change or System Change? Lynching Laurel Constitutional Change Now A Tale of Two Countries Making the economic comeback w/ higher private FDI Tables and Ladders (Exposing Esposo, Part 2) It’s all about Competition It’s the Economy, Student! ‘Sensya na po, Sir…’ Let’s Talk Basketball – by Figo Cantos Sen. Enrile Solidly Supports Parliamentarism Crucifying Cruz The CoRRECT™ Three Point Agenda The Parliamentary System: Would it produce better leaders? Problems of Presidentialism & the US Exception A Good Constitution Must Reduce the Impact of a Bad Leader Sen. Claro M. Recto on the Presidential System Philippine Progress: Shift in Sports, Shift in System Exposing Esposo 2 Filipinos: A Football Legend & A Spanish Prime Minister The Parliamentary System Fits the Philippines Sen. Pangilinan & the Parliamentary System
Platforms & Competence: True leadership, not popularity politics.
Shifting to the Parliamentary System is perhaps the most technical and most complicated of all the three agenda points in the Three Point CoRRECT™ Agenda. For a very long time, this particular reform had been demonized by rogue politicians, Oligarchs, and other uninformed sources featured prominently in Philippine Mass Media.
So many Filipinos have been misled and fooled into going against this reform. It is for this reason that we have compiled as many information resources & links on the topic in order to give Filipinos a better appreciation of how the the Parliamentary System works.
Featured Posts
Constitutional Reform First before claiming Sabah!Sabahans of different ethno-linguistic groups wearing their traditional ethnic attire (Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas) It's about time the Philippines and all Filipinos started thinking straight regarding…
Why Do So Many Filipinos Misunderstand System Change?Many of the anti-reform naysayers who do not have an evil vested interest in maintaining the status quo tend to go against procedural systemic reforms such as shifting from the Presidential System to…
Lee Kuan Yew’s Speech at the Philippine Business ConferenceThe late founding Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, had been invited by the Philippine Business Conference to address them back on November 18, 1992, not long after he had already stepped down as…
Juan Linz: The Perils of Presidentialismby the late Dr. Juan J. Linz As more of the world’s nations turn to democracy, interest in alternative constitutional forms and arrangements has expanded well beyond academic circles. In countries as…
Frequently Asked Questions (Tagalog)Pindutin ang kada tanong para makita ang mga sagot... ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION 1. Ano ang ibig sabihin ng pag-alis sa probisyong 60/40 sa ating Saligang Batas ng 1987? Ito ay ang…
The Parliamentary System can fix Philippine PoliticsThe Federal-Parliamentary System is Preferable to a Federal-Presidential System: Sticking to the Presidential System may worsen Philippine Politics (This article came out of the book "Quest for a Federal…
Presidential or Parliamentary – Does it Make a Difference?by Juan J. Linz (July 1985) INTRODUCTION In recent decades renewed efforts have been made to study and understand the variety of political democracies, but most of those analyses have focused on the…
KITT vs KARR: Systems & Algorithms MatterBack in the 1980’s there was an extremely popular TV show called Knight Rider. It featured a crime-fighter with a talking car named KITT, short for “Knight Industries Two-Thousand." KITT was a…
What if we were Parliamentary back in 2009?Thousands watch the cortege of former President Cory Aquino along Sucat road in Parañaque City. MANNY MARCELO/PHOTO An insightful CoRRECTor, Louis Gerard del Rosario wrote a very good status…
A Head of State and A Head of GovernmentWhy Both Roles Should Be Separate, Especially in the Philippine Setting I am no political scientist and I don’t claim to be one now in writing this. I am writing this based on my understanding of…
No Parliamentary System, No LKY & No MahathirThis old article from 27 April 2006 by Alex Magno emphasizes that Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia and the late Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore could only emerge from the electoral mechanisms of a Parliamentary…
The Philippines is run like a Mafia NetworkAfter the recent revelations of the pork barrel scam, the patronage politics exposed during the Typhoon Yolanda Tragedy and the privileged speech revelations in Senate , it strikes me that the Government…
Tacloban Tragedy: A Painful Wake-up CallNote: This was originally a status update from FB that went viral. We were able to get permission to publish it from the lady who was able to speak with several survivors of Super-Typhoon Haiyan (local…
The Coming Fall of the “Noynoy Project”The writing is on the wall: "P-Noy" is losing support. As a result of the wrath of Typhoon Yolanda (aka "Haiyan"), Philippine President B.S. Aquino III has been exposed to the rest of the entire world as…
The Parable of the Mountain BikeOnce upon a time, there was an American Peace Corps volunteer named Sam. Sam was a nice, good-natured 29 year old White Anglo-Saxon American guy who stood tall at 6 ft 7' and enjoyed playing basketball. Sam…
US Government Shutdown: The Presidential System SucksThe recent US Federal Government Shutdown has further proven to everyone around the World that the Presidential System is an extremely unreliable, buggy, flawed, and faulty system of government whose…
Infographic: Solutions to the Root Causes of the Pork BarrelMany Filipinos want to get rid of the Pork Barrel. But as mentioned in a previous article, it is necessary to understand the root causes of this "contraption" in order to come up with a truly effective…
Nápoles & Pork Barrel: It’s the Lousy SystemThere's been a lot of anger expressed regarding Janet Nápoles, her daughter Jeane, their lavish lifestyles, and the Pork Barrel scam that funded it all. Everyone seems to be screaming about the need to…
Nancy Binay – Don’t hate the player, hate the game!Nancy Binay is joining in the Senatorial Race because she can and because she has the necessary name-recall in order to win. She's joining the race because she has exactly what the current Philippine system…
Should the Philippines Turn Parliamentary?By Rep. Florencio B. Abad It is unfortunate that enlightened debate about the proposed shift in the form of government has been hampered by allegations of hidden motives by Senate leaders and by a public…
Chicken or the Egg: Culture Change or System Change?People often wonder about what determines the success of a society. Is it the culture or is it the system? Quite recently, as the debate on Constitutional Reform progresses and as more and more people realize…
Constitutional Change Now(originally published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 21st November 2012) by Peter Wallace Let me give you a few points to ponder when considering whether or not we need to open up the economy by…
Tables and Ladders (Exposing Esposo, Part 2)Billy Esposo is awarded a medal by the oligarchs for defending Monopoly by the Oligarchs and fighting against enabling job creation through Constitutional Reform Almost nineteen months ago, Orion wrote an…
It’s all about CompetitionCompetition forces you to shape up, or ship out! It is well-known that the concept of healthy and fair competition has the effect of an "invisible hand" that essentially results in benefits and…
Let’s Talk Basketball – by Figo CantosI’ve been an advocate of the CoRRECT™ Movement for almost a year now. After getting in touch with Orion Pérez Dumdum during a Christmas Celebration of the Bagumbayan-VNP (Gordon-Bayani 2010)…
Sen. Enrile Solidly Supports ParliamentarismCurrent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has repeatedly expressed his solid support for Constitutional Reform for a very long time. Back in the days when what later became the 1987 Constitution was up…
The CoRRECT™ Three Point AgendaThe CoRRECT™ Three Point Agenda was conceptualized as a comprehensive but simple solution that acts as a first enabling step that helps facilitate a lot of other important reforms. Here are the three…
The Parliamentary System: Would it produce better leaders?I am not a die-hard advocate of Constitutional Reform but I generally support the idea. However, while others support it primarily for the economic agenda, I on the other hand do so for my search-for-leaders…
Problems of Presidentialism & the US Exceptionby Fred W. Riggs, PhD (1917-2008) This is a draft for the text published as "Conceptual Homogenization of a Heterogeneous Field: Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective," in Mattei Dogan and Ali…
Sen. Claro M. Recto on the Presidential SystemThe late Senator Claro M. Recto, president of the 1934 Constitutional Convention which drafted the 1935 charter, describes the Philippine political system this way: The late Senator Claro M. Recto "Our…
Feel free to click on each of the links below so that you can watch youtube videos that can instruct you about the Parliamentary System or how it works…
Parliamentary System YouTube videos:
Why does the Philippines need a Parliamentary System?
Parliamentary Systems are more democratic than Presidentialist ones
Fareed Zakaria: Why Parliamentary is better than Presidential
Australia's Federal Parliamentary System
Inside Australia's Parliament
How the German Government Works (by KhAnubis)
The German Election System Explained
Presidential Philippines versus Parliamentary India
What is the difference between parliament and government?
How the German Government Works
Hon Zhivargo Laing Explains The Bahamas Parliamentary system of Government
Canada's Parliamentary System
RMR: How Parliament Works
British Parliament structure explained
The role of Parliament
A Guide to the UK Elections—for non-Brits
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Why does the Philippines need a Parliamentary System?
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Parliamentary Systems are more democratic than Presidentialist ones
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Fareed Zakaria: Why Parliamentary is better than Presidential
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Australia's Federal Parliamentary System
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Inside Australia's Parliament
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How the German Government Works (by KhAnubis)
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The German Election System Explained
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Presidential Philippines versus Parliamentary India
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What is the difference between parliament and government?
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How the German Government Works
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Hon Zhivargo Laing Explains The Bahamas Parliamentary system of Government
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Canada's Parliamentary System
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RMR: How Parliament Works
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British Parliament structure explained
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The role of Parliament
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A Guide to the UK Elections—for non-Brits
Useful PDFs on the Parliamentary System
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The Philosophy and Theories of Federalism by Gabriel Lanre Adeola (PhD) & Adeleke Olumide Ogunnoiki --- This paper examines the philosophy and theories of federalism from the 17th to the 20th century. For this study, the qualitative method of secondary data collection was adopted. The paper concludes that the philosophy and theories of federalism are tools that assist analysts and readers with the normative and empirical perspectives of federalism, the conditions and preconditions for adopting federalism, the division of power in a federation and the economic functions of the levels of government in a federal state among other things. Download -
The Many Uses of Federalism by Donald L. Horowitz --- In this article, the aim is to discuss some unexplored frontiers of federalism. By opening a window on comparative federalism and ethnic conflict in severely divided societies, it is possible to show that federalism can often be an aid to the reduction of conflict or to its pursuit in democratic ways. Depending on the configuration of federal institutions, federalism can also foster undemocratic institutions. There are, therefore, two main points to be made: federalism has utility in deeply divided societies, but to realize its many benefits, it is necessary to get the federal design right. Download -
Comparing Federal Systems in the 1990s by the late Dr. Ronald L. Watts --- In this paper, Professor Watts draws on his unique breadth of knowledge of federal systems. He explores the complexities of federations in advanced industrial nations such as the United States, Switzerland, Australia, Austria, and Germany, multilingual federations such as India and Malaysia, emerging federations such as Belgium and Spain, and federations that have failed such as Czechoslovakia and Pakistan. Download -
New Protectionism: Still Protectionism and Bad Economics by Veronique de Rugy --- Historically, tariffs have not helped economic growth. Whether one considers the United States before World War I, the countries of the “East Asian miracle” in the middle of the 20th century, or China after that, freer markets and lower barriers to trade were key in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. Download -
The Federal Solution to Ethnic Conflicts by Baogang He --- Conflicts over ethnic homeland rule, the right to territorial autonomy, and even nation-statehood have been played out in Asia, where it has been debated whether federalism is the best system to reduce or contain ethnic conflicts. The international community has questioned whether the multinational federalism of Spain and Canada offers a successful model for Asia. It has also questioned whether underlying norms such as the right to territorial autonomy, the right to self-determination, and the right to remain unassimilated are universally acceptable. Download -
Who does better for the Economy? Presidents vs Parliamentary Democracies by Richard McManus & F. Gulcin Ozkan --- Are certain forms of government associated with superior economic outcomes? This paper attempts to answer that question by examining how government systems influence macroeconomic performance. We find that presidential regimes consistently are associated with less favorable outcomes than parliamentary regimes: slower output growth, higher and more volatile inflation and greater income inequality. Download -
The Personal Vote and Economic Reform by Tanya Bagashka --- In the post-communist and many developing countries, the transition to democracy occurred in tandem with radical economic reform or transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. The simultaneous transition begs the questions: Why have some new democracies implemented reforms more quickly and successfully than others? Has the choice of political institutions affected the progress of economic reform? Here we focus on the effects of electoral rules. Electoral systems affect two dimensions of political competition: inter-party and intra-party, both of which have implications for the success of economic reform. Download -
Contemporary Democracy in a Parliamentary System by Kazuyuki Takahashi --- A change of government has two implications for the quality of democracy. First, a change of government confirms the existence of democracy. There is no better proof that democracy exists than the fact that a change of government takes place following a free popular election. Second, popular belief in the possibility of a change of government, supported and strengthened by actual experience, enables the people to make a real choice. Where there is no significant chance of altering government, elections lose their meaning. The people are forced either to accept the existing government or embrace uncertainty by rejecting it. Download -
The Differing Federalisms of Canada and the United States by Martha A. Field --- There are some remarkable differences in the ways that Canada and the United States have structured their federalisms - differences that teach us not only about the two systems involved but also about the possibilities of federalism generally. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of this subject for the reader who is new to it. It will compare the role of the provinces and the role of the states in the federal schemes of Canada and the United States and will survey three main subjects. Download -
Federalism: the Best Future for Scotland by the Home Rule & Community Rule Commission of the Scottish Liberal Democrats --- The Home Rule and Community Rule Commission was tasked with setting out proposals to bring about substantial and stable home rule powers for Scotland. This report does that, and shows how these powers and responsibilities would be best achieved by a move to a federal system across the whole of the United Kingdom. This report builds on the understanding developed by the Steel Commission report and from a century of Liberal and Liberal Democrat campaigning for home rule. Download -
The Advantages of Parliament beyond the Perils of Presidentialism by François de Soete --- This article argues that the parliamentary model's institutional features are better-suited than those of the presidential model for achieving what is here termed indirect deliberative democracy. In the end, showing that a parliament can more closely approximate a deliberative environment in comparison with a presidential system can in itself serve as a step toward actualizing indirect deliberative democracy. Download -
Latin American Presidencies Interrupted by Arturo Valenzuela --- While the case for adopting parliamentarism might seem compelling to political scientists, the idea of such a shift is plainly anathema to most Latin American citizens. The overwhelming symbolic authority attributed to presidentialism leaps out from the pages of the region’s history and bestrides its politics like a colossus. Even if successful democratic presidents have been few and far between, there have been enough legends such as Mexico’s Benito Juárez (1861–63, 1867–72) to keep Latin America the continent of presidentialism par excellence. Brazil, which is unique in the region for having remained officially a monarchy from the time of its independence in 1822 until 1889, decisively defeated a 1993 referendum on shifting to parliamentarism. Download -
Political Dynasties & the Incumbency Advantage in Party-Centered Environments by Jon Fiva & Daniel Smith --- Compared to the larger and statistically significant effects that have been estimated in candidate-centered contexts like the U.S. (6 percentage points) and the Philippines (12 percentage points), our null finding from Norway suggests that incumbency plays a smaller explanatory role in the mechanisms underlying dynastic politics in countries with strong party organizations and party-centered voting, in line with the comparative theory laid out by Smith (2012). Download -
The Politics of Semi-Presidentialism by Robert Elgie --- This chapter provides an introduction to the concept of semi-presidentialism and establishes a framework for the study of the politics of semi-presidential regimes. In the first part of the chapter, the evolution of the concept of semi-presidentialism will be sketched, some of the main criticisms of the concept will be considered, a slight reformulation of the standard definition of the term will be proposed, and a list of semi-presidential regimes will be identified. Download -
Political Dynasties & Party Strength: Evidence from Victorian Britain by Carlos Velasco Rivera --- In the context of Victorian Britain, political dynasties represented a form of a traditional elite. The findings in the paper, therefore, show the development of parties is key to bringing about their demise. The findings in the paper also have implications for our understanding of the development of political parties and the persistence of political dynasties in democracies. Together, the results suggest dynasties persist and survive electoral reforms (Querubin, 2011) as long as parties fail to become institutionalized. Download -
Political Dynasties in the UK House of Commons: The Null Effect of Narrow Electoral Selection by Brenda van Coppenolle --- Does power persist within families? This article considers whether members of the UK House of Commons with longer legislative careers after 1832 were more likely to establish a political dynasty. Tenure can create opportunities to promote relatives. A regression discontinuity design for re-election races helps to rule out the confounding influence of inheritable traits. There is no evidence for a causal effect of tenure length on establishing or continuing a dynasty. Established families may have constrained further dynasty development, explaining the null result of tenure. Download -
The Limits of the Parliamentary Critique of the Separation of Powers by Thomas Sargentich --- The CoRRECT™ Movement generally disagrees with the stand of the late author. Despite the evidence being extremely abundant that the Parliamentary System is far superior to the Presidential System, this paper from 1993 attempts to reject such overwhelming evidence. Sadly, Prof. Sargentlich died in 2005 and was not able to see the piling up of more evidence of the failure of the presidential system and the dysfunctions of its numerous shutdowns and instances of gridlock in the USA. That said, this paper is included here because it includes a lot of good information about the history of the pro-Parliamentary movement in the USA. Had he lived to see how the system works today, it is likely that he would become an advocate of shifting the USA to the Parliamentary System. Download -
Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today & Tomorrow by Ludwig von Mises --- Ideally government should be a sort of caretaker, not of the people themselves, but of the conditions which will allow individuals, producers, traders, workers, entrepreneurs, savers, and consumers to pursue their own goals in peace. If government does that, and no more, the people will be able to provide for themselves much better than the government possibly could. This in essence is the message of Professor Ludwig von Mises in this small volume. Download -
Rationale & Features of Federalism by Julio Teehankee --- The Philippine archipelago has long been burdened by an overconcentration of political and administrative powers in Manila, which prevents full support and services from benefitting the farthest reaches of the country. Moreover, the unitary state has stunted growth and development in the different regions. There have been several incremental and piecemeal attempts to decentralize the unitary state. Despite the long experimentation with decentralization, Metro Manila, CALABARZON (Region IV-A) and Central Luzon (Region III) account for 62 percent of GDP, while fourteen out of seventeen regions account for only 38 percent. Download -
Federalism (International IDEA Constitution-building Primer) by Elliot Bulmer --- Federalism is a system of government that establishes a constitutionally specified division of powers between different levels of government. There are usually two main levels: (a) a national, central or federal level; and (b) a state, provincial or regional level. In some cases, however, a federal system may prescribe a three-fold distribution of power by recognizing the constitutional powers of local government (e.g. South Africa) or by creating complex forms of overlapping territorial and linguistic federalism (e.g. Belgium). Download -
Ostrom, Hardin & the Commons: A Critical Appreciation & a Revisionist View by Eduardo Araral --- I provide a critical appreciation of the considerable legacies of Ostrom and Hardin to the literature on the commons. First, how valid is Ostrom’s critique of Hardin’s tragedy of the commons? Second, how generalizable is Ostrom’s institutional design principles for long-lived commons? Finally, how justified is Ostrom’s critique of privatization, markets and the Leviathan solutions to the tragedy of the commons? Based on a reassessment of the evidence and reinterpretation of Ostrom’s work supplemented by field work, my preliminary findings suggest that, first, her critique of Hardin is valid in the special case of smallscale, locally governed commons while Hardin seem justified for large scale, national, regional and global commons. Download -
Parliamentarism, Freedom from Corruption, FDI, & Per Capita PPP: The Causal Nexus by Eduardo Alicias, Jr. --- This study examines the hypothesized causal nexus involving the parliamentary system of government, freedom from corruption, foreign direct investment (FDI), and per capita purchasing power parity (the dependent variable). It is theorized that the parliamentary system of government brings about greater freedom from corruption; and which in turn, directly and/or indirectly brings about greater per capita purchasing power parity (per capita PPP)— isolating the extraneous effects of a set of control variables. Download -
Systems of Government: Parliamentarism & Presidentialism by José Antonio Cheibub --- With the exception of the United States, where a system of separation of executive and legislative powers exists, all countries that are considered to be stable democracies adopt a constitution that is, at least partially, parliamentary. A parliamentary constitution is characterized by the fusion of executive and legislative powers, achieved by the fact that the government needs the confidence of a majority in the legislative assembly in order to come to and remain in power. Download -
The Economic Effects of Federalism & Decentralization: A Cross-Country Assessment by Stefan Voigt & Lorenz Blume --- This paper is based on the conjecture that institutional details matter and that attempts to estimate the economic effects of federalism by drawing on a simple dummy variable neglect potentially important institutional details. Based on a principal component analysis, seven aspects of both federalism and decentralization are used as variables for explaining differences in (1) fiscal policy, (2) government effectiveness, (3) economic productivity, and (4) happiness. The results show that institutional details do, indeed, matter. Different aspects of federalism impact on the outcome variables in different degrees. This study adds to our knowledge on the transmission mechanisms of federalism and decentralization. Download -
Constitutional Frameworks & Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarism versus Presidentialism by Alfred Stepan & Cindy Skach --- We believe we are now in a position to say that the explanation of why parliamentarianism is a more supportive constitutional framework lies in the following theoretically predictable and empirically observable tendencies: its greater propensity for governments to have majorities to implement their programs; its greater ability to rule in a multiparty setting; its lower propensity for executives to rule at the edge of the constitution and its greater facility at removing a chief executive who does so; its lower susceptibility to military coup; and its greater tendency to provide long party-government careers, which add loyalty and experience to political society. Download -
Parliamentary Privilege? Kinship in Canada's Parliament by Matthew Godwin --- The Canadian House of Commons since Confederation has seen a steady, nearly uninterrupted decline in kinship. Population growth does not explain this process and neither do electoral upheavals. However, changes to Canada’s electoral laws and the expansion of suffrage have created opportunities for new entrants. Finally, the diminishment of parliamentary pork-barrelling in the early twentieth century also limited the capacity for families to secure a multi-generational presence in parliament. Download -
Political Reform & Elite Persistence: Term Limits & Political Dynasties in the Philippines by Pablo Querubín --- In this paper I study the extent to which the introduction of term limits by the 1987 Philippine Constitution effectively broke the hold of incumbent families on power. The ability of term limits to dismantle political dynasties is not obvious, as term-limited incumbents may be replaced by relatives or may run for a different elected office. Whether these strategies undermine the direct effects of term-limits in reducing the time an individual can hold office is an empirical question. I find no evidence of a statistically significant impact of term limits on curbing families’ persistence in power. Challengers prefer to wait for the incumbent to be termed-out and run in an open-seat race. As a consequence, incumbents are safer in their early terms prior to the limit. Download -
Decentralization and Economic Development: The Philippine Experience by Milwida M. Guevara --- The Philippines embarked on an ambitious decentralization program in 1991 to strengthen democratic processes and enhance economic growth. The national government devolved major responsibilities and revenues to local governments. Decentralization however goes beyond the transfer of responsibilities and revenues to local governments. Decentralization however goes beyond the transfer of responsibilities and resources to local governments. Download -
Studies in Comparative Federalism: Australia, Canada, the USA, & West Germany by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (1981) --- In the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Amendments of 1976 (P.L. 94-488), Congress asked the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to study and evaluate "the allocation and coordination of taxing and spending authority between levels of government, including a comparison of other federal government systems." The objective of this research is to determine how federal systems in other industrialized nations have dealt with some of the issues of fiscal federalism that are of current concern in the United States. Download -
The Efficient Secret: How the US nearly adopted a Parliamentary System & why it should have done so by Frank H. Buckley --- The American presidential system, with its separation of powers, plausibly imposes enormous costs on the economy without compensating gains, as seen in the current gridlock over the debt crisis. Modern parliamentary systems of government, such as those in Britain and Canada, seem to handle such problems more efficiently. Regretfully, however, the principle of separationism has been extended in Supreme Court decisions and in the Senate filibuster, in part because of the mistaken idea that this is what the Founders intended. Download -
Chicken or the Egg: Culture Change or System Change? by Orion Pérez Dumdum (2012) --- People often wonder about what determines the success of a society. Is it the culture or is it the system? Quite recently, as the debate on Constitutional Reform progresses and as more and more people realize that the current Philippine System – both economic and political – is dysfunctional and flawed, one opposing view that keeps coming up insists that it is not the system that needs changing, but the culture. While I am an advocate of Constitutional Reform and System Shifting, I have also long since proclaimed the fact that Filipino Culture is deeply dysfunctional, flawed, and needs a major overhaul. The question is: How do we overhaul Filipino Culture? Download -
Japanese Theory of Modernization/Industrialization: Between Liberalism & Developmentalism by Kiichiro Yagi --- After a decade of economic stagnation, it is now in vogue among economists to say that the economic system of Japan suffers from an “institutional fatigue”. This expression, however, connotes that the unique institutional arrangement of Japanese economy had once an age when it functioned well. The precise diagnosis and prescript against this “fatigue” differs in each case, particularly by the range of the time that the observer adopts. Download -
Japanese Economic Development & Education by Nisaka Yoshinobu --- 140 years ago, Japan embraced the Meiji Restoration. Japan’s isolation policy ended. Japan opened its doors to the world. The social class system was terminated and equal rights were given to each individual. The Western system was introduced and initiated a major revolution which changed the country dramatically. Due to this dramatic change, the positive energy of the entire nation was released and within several decades, Japan had become one of the world’s super powers. Download -
The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies, and Challenges by Arsenio Balisacan & Hal Hill --- The Philippines is one of the world's major development puzzles. In the immediate aftermath of the Pacific war, and despite extensive wartime destruction, it had one of the highest per capita incomes in East Asia: above South Korea and Taiwan, significantly higher than Thailand, Indonesia and China, and below only Japan, the then Malaya, and the city states of Hong Kong and Singapore. Among newly independent countries, its initial conditions were favorable. American rule from 1898 had been comparatively benign by colonial standards. Download -
Comparative European Party Systems: An Analysis of Parliamentary Elections Since 1945 by Alan Siaroff --- This work seeks to be a comprehensive analysis of European party systems. In terms of what and where Europe is, however, debate persists. Geographers would tend to define it broadly, up to the Ural Mountains at the start of Siberia. In contrast, historically such areas as Russia and Spain have at times not been included (Wallace 1990). In the current context one may be tempted to begin with the European Union; however, this only contains 28 members (including still in 2018 the United Kingdom pending its ‘Brexit’). A better place to start is in fact with the Strasbourgbased Council of Europe. Download -
Legal and constitutional disputes and the Philippine Constitution by Gerardo Sicat --- The starting point of this essay is the observation that many rulings of the courts of law in the country affect the economy, some of them slowing down the nation’s economic performance thereby causing loss of economic welfare for many citizens. Since all decisions are based in the law, there is need to understand what types of law lead to these interpretations. Download -
Presidents, Assemblies and Policy-making in Asia Edited by Yuko Kasuya --- This book is concerned with executive–legislative relations in the presidential and semi-presidential democracies of Asia. Since around the mid-1980s, comparative politics scholars have advanced our understanding of differences in executive–legislative relations and their impact on many aspects of political life. These impacts include regime stability, the quality of governance, policy-making processes, formation of parties and party systems, ethnic conflict, and even the international actions of the states.1 These consequences have been analysed with a focus on differences in the two basic forms of executive–legislative relations – that is, (semi-) presidential versus parliamentary government – as well as with a focus on executive–legislative relations within one form of government Download -
Reform of the Economic Provisions of the Constitution: Why National Progress is at Stake by Gerardo Sicat --- The Philippine Constitution contains many strong restrictions targeted against the flow of foreign capital in specific areas of economic activities. These restrictions were the same ones that were incorporated into the nationalistic provisions of the 1935 Constitution when its framers were anticipating future political independence. This paper discusses the beneficial aspects of lifting or liberalizing these restrictions on foreign capital in the Philippine context. Download -
Constitutional Design: Options for Decentralizing Power by Cheryl Saunders --- The functions of government that a state performs can be decentralized in various ways and to varying degrees. This Paper is divided into 3 parts, which together are intended to guide the reader in understanding the key building blocks involved in building a decentralized state and identifying the key design issues involved. The paper identifies 3 common models of decentralisation, using country case studies to explain the key design features of each model. Download -
Does Dynastic Prohibition Improve Democracy? by Jan Frederick Cruz & Ronald Mendoza --- The CoRRECT™ Movement generally disagrees with this paper's assertion that anti-dynasty provisions are necessary. Historical evidence proves that whether we like it or not, dynasties and aristocrats are a natural social tendency. The issue should not be about dynasties per se but on ensuring that the politicians and leaders who do emerge are of high quality, high competence, and are sincerely dedicated to improving their communities and the country. No one likes bad dynasties. But people will gladly support dynasties they consider to be good. The important thing therefore, rather than creating band-aid solutions, is to come up with systems that will ensure that we have quality competent politicians emerging, regardless of their backgrounds. That said, we have included this paper here so that others may read and critique it and see where the logical and/or factual gaps are. There are also valuable tidbits of information that are useful which we agree with, despite the paper's recommendations with which we don't agree. Download -
Land Policy after Land Reform in Japan by Masaru Kajita --- Almost fifteen years have passed since the Land Reform was completed in July, 1950. During this period, Japan has staged an economic recovery, and is now enjoying a period of so-called "High-Rate Growth." This rapid economic progress rendered inadequate the land policy of just after the Land Reform. The development of agricultural productivity after the Land Reform has also called for a revaluation of land policy Download -
Graft and Corruption: The Philippine Experience by Nelson Nogot Moratalla --- This paper will present a condensed report on graft and corruption in the Philippines. Information was compiled by the author from documents, articles, newspaper clippings and other data gathered from the reports and journals of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan, two of the constitutional bodies mandated by Philippine law to investigate and act on complaints filed against public officials and employees for violations of graft and corrupt practices. Download -
Competitive Advantage of Nations In The Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990), I undertook to explain the sources of sustained prosperity in the modern global economy. While the book is set at the level of the nation, the same framework can and has been readily applied at the regional, state, and city level. While most thinking and policy had focused on the macroeconomic conditions for growth and prosperity, my focus was on the microeconomic foundations. While government was the central actor in most literature, I sought to highlight the role played by companies. Download -
Eradicating Corruption - The Singapore Experience by Muhammad Ali --- I am very honoured to represent Singapore at this prestigious seminar. My paper is on “Eradicating Corruption - The Singapore Experience” and I hope to share with you our experiences in fighting corruption, which has made Singapore one of the cleanest, corruption free countries in the world. In Singapore we have a very strong anti-corruption policy which recognises that corruption control Download -
Inequality, Political Systems, and Public Spending by Filippo Gregorini & Enrico Longoni --- The aim of this paper is to check for the existence of a link between political institutions, income inequality and public spending. We develop an empirical investigation, based on panel data analysis, on the determinants of public spending focusing on political, economic, demographic and social variables in large sample of developed and developing countries from 1970 to 2005. Download -
The Election & Presidency of Joseph Ejercito Estrada by Bastiaan van de Loo --- "In the Philippines it is a known fact that patrons are needed in everything, from the time one is baptized until one dies, to obtain justice, secure a passport or exploit whatever industry." This is what national hero Jose Rizal wrote in 1889 about his beloved home country, the Philippines. Download -
Federalism, Decentralisation, and Corruption by Sebastian Freille, Mohammed Emran ul Haque, & Richard Anthony Kneller --- We investigate the empirical relationship between decentralisation and corruption. Using a newly assembled dataset containing data for up to 174 countries, we revisit the empirical evidence and seek to explain some of the inconsistent results that exist in the literature. We find that not only results differ due to the use of different specifications and data but more importantly because previous research overlooks the relationship between different dimensions of decentralisation. Download -
The People's Draft: Executive Summary The People’s Draft is a crowd-sourced constitution framed in 2018 at the initiative of Tanggulang Demokrasya (Tan Dem), Inc.ii and PUBLiCUS Asia, Inc. The main features of the Peoples’ Draft are as follows: (1) “Foreign investment liberalization” (for massive job creation and consumer price reduction); (2) “Collective rule” by a unicameral parliament and the local councils (for platform-based party politics, instead of personality-based politics); (3) “Regional decentralization” via the “bottom-up” approach, instead of the “top-down” approach (to empower the people of the regions). Download -
Why Asia's Oldest Democracy is Bound to Fail by Salvador Santino Regilme, Jr. --- Despite having the earliest exposure to electoral democratic practices in the AsiaPacific region, the Philippines remains to be one of the least stable democracies in the Global South. Notwithstanding the return of electoral democracy in 1986 after two decades of authoritarian rule, the Philippine state has yet to consolidate its democratic regime. Download -
A Positive Effect of Political Dynasties: The Case of France's 1940 Enabling Act by Jean Lacroix, Pierre-Guillaume Méon, & Kim Oosterlinck --- The literature on political dynasties in democracies usually considers dynasties as a homogenous group and points out their negative effects. By contrast, we argue that political dynasties may differ according to their origin and that democratic dynasties - dynasties whose founder was a defender of democratic ideals - show a stronger support for democracy than other dynasties Download -
The Effect of Political Dynasties on Economic Development by Siddharth Eapen George --- This paper studies how dynastic politics affects economic development in India, using variation from three distinct natural experiments. We build a political agency model with overlapping generations to show that dynastic politics has theoretically ambiguous economic effects: bequest motives may lengthen politicians’ time horizons (founder effects), but heritable political capital makes elections less effective at holding dynastic heirs accountable (descendant effects). We compile data on the family ties of all Indian legislators since 1947, and present three empirical findings. Download -
Interaction of Powers in the Philippine Presidential System by Takeshi Kawanaka --- The executive – legislative relations in the Philippines have been described in two contrasting stories, namely the “strong president” story, and the “strong congress” story. This paper tries to consolidate the existing arguments and propose a new perspective focusing on the “compromise exchange” between the president and the congress across the different policy areas. It considers that the policy outcome is not brought by unilateral power of the president or the congress, but formed as the product of such an exchange. Download -
Personalized Foreign Policy Decision-making & Economic Dependence: A Comparative Study of Thailand & the Phils' China Policies by Wen Zha --- The existing literature on foreign policy fomulation suggests that individual leaders in small and politically unstable states exert a disproportionate impact on foreign policy-making. Some analysts further contend that personalized foreign policy decision-making is more likely to suffer from discontinuities. This article, however, argues that the foreign policies of small and politically unstable states exhibit considerable variation in terms of constancy. Download -
Illiberal Democracy in the Third World: An Empirical Enquiry by Jan Engberg and Svante Ersson --- The purpose of this paper is to analyse the occurrence and performance of illiberal democracies in the Third World. We are predominately interested in finding out if illiberal regimes are distinctive empirical categories in a comparison with other regime types, and to what extent illiberal democracy might develop into a role model for Third World countries. Our results indicate that illiberal democracies are a growing phenomena and that they are relatively stable over time. However, illiberal democracy becomes an interesting feature only after making a conceptual distinction between illiberalism by design and illiberalism by default. Download -
Assessing Democratic Evolution in Southeast Asia by Hadar N. Gumay, Shamsul A.B., Temario C. Rivera, & Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead --- This is a collection of speeches at the Trends in Southeast Asia panel seminar and discussion held at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore in 2002. Hadar N. Gumay is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Electoral Reform (CETRO), Shamsul A. B. is Professor of Social Anthropology and Director, Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia. Temario C. Rivera is Professor of International Relations at the International Christian University, Tokyo. He was professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of the Philippines and the editor of the Philippine Political Science Journal. Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead teaches in the Department of International Relations, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Download -
Problems of Democracy in Ethnically-Divided South Asian Countries by Tatu Vanhanen --- Ethnic heterogeneity characterizes all South Asian countries. Their populations are divided by language, religion, caste, race, and/or tribe into various groups, which are tended to compete and clash with each other. Consequently, ethnic conflicts in one form or other have been common in all these countries, and it has been difficult to maintain domestic peace. Download -
Incentives & Human Resource Management in the Design of Public Sector Reform by Nadeem ul Haque --- We, in Pakistan, should be very happy that the global development community has finally accepted the centrality of public sector reform (also known as improved governance) in the quest for improved living standards in poor countries. Development economics is a subject that is based on the interpretation and observation of some Western academics and Western donor-based agencies. Download -
Much Ado about Nothing? - Clan Politics & Term Limits in the Philippines by Yuko Kasuya --- The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world that prohibit unlimited re-election of national-level legislators. Aside from the Philippines, Costa Rica and Mexico are the only two other such cases. At the sub-national level, 22 states in the United States introduced term limits on their legislators. The term-limit rule in the Philippines was instituted in the 1987 Constitution, which was ratified after the 1986 democratization. Under the current rule, House of Representatives members can only serve up to three consecutive terms, or 9 years. For Senators, they can serve up to two consecutive terms or 12 years. Download -
Presidential Term Limits & Party System Stability in New Democracies by Yuko Kasuya --- This paper examines the relationship between party-system instability and presidential term limits. I argue that among new democracies, a single-term limit on the presidency is more prone to destabilize the legislative-level party system than a multiple-term limit. Whether or not presidents are banned from immediate re-election affects the presence or absence of the incumbent in presidential elections, which is the driving force behind this conjecture. Download -
Electoral Rules & Government Spending in Parliamentary Democracies by Torsten Persson, Gerard Roland, & Guido Tabellini --- We present a theoretical model of a parliamentary democracy where electoral competition inside coalition governments induces higher spending than under single party governments. Policy preferences of parties are endogenous and derived from opportunistic reelection motives. The electoral rule affects government spending, but only indrectly: proportional elections induce a more fragmented party system and a larger incidence of coalition governments than do majoritarian elections. Download -
From Linz to Tsebelis: Three Waves of Presidential/Parliamentary Studies? by Robert Elgie --- The debate about the relative merits of presidentialism and parliamentarism has a long history, but it was revived in 1990 with Juan Linz’s articles about the supposed perils of presidentialism and the virtues of parliamentarism. The argument presented in this review is that we are now witnessing a ‘third wave’ of presidential/parliamentary studies since 1990. The ‘first wave’ began with Linz’s articles. . It was characterised by a debate in which there was one explanatory variable (the regime type) and one dependent variable (the success of democratic consolidation). Download -
Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What is to be Done? by Clarita Carlos & Dennis Lalata with Dianne Despi & Portia Carlos --- There is no doubt that the importance of a good person, with the right intentions and with character, imbued in the highest office of the country, cannot be overestimated. With the extraordinary powers the 1987 Philippine Constitution bestowed upon the President, he will be able to change things and move the country forward – even with the limitation of only one six-year term in office. However, the example of the Ramos Administration in the ninetees, during which democracy seemed to have stabilized and a fresh wind of socioeconomic development pushed the country for some years into the mainstream of the booming SoutheastAsian region bears remembering how the country can fall back into political turmoil and socio-economic deadlock after a change of administration. Download -
The English Constitution by Walter Bagehot --- (pronounced as "Badge-yeot") There is a great difficulty in the way of a writer who attempts to sketch a living Constitution, — a Constitution that is in actual work and power. The difficulty is that the object is in constant change. An historical writer does not feel this difficulty: he deals only with the past; he can say definitely, the Constitution worked in such and such a manner in the year at which he begins, and in a manner in such and such respects different in the year at which he ends; he begins with a definite point of time and ends with one also. But a contemporary writer who tries to paint what is before him is puzzled and perplexed; what he sees is changing daily. Download -
Should the Philippines Turn Parliamentary? by Florencio Abad --- It is unfortunate that enlightened debate about the proposed shift in the form of government has been hampered by allegations of hidden motives by Senate leaders and by a public suspicious of an unspoken agenda of certain politicians. The senators fear that the proposal is a means to cut short their political careers. The public, in turn, suspects that the plan has been advanced to secure the political futures of those who hold higher political ambitions, as well as to prolong the careers of those affected by the term limits set by the Constitution. These reservations are not baseless nor unfair, given the embarrassing way patronage, narrow and self-interested politics have dominated the political way of life of the country Download -
The Perils of Presidentialism by Juan Linz --- As more of the world’s nations turn to democracy, interest in alternative constitutional forms and arrangements has expanded well beyond academic circles. In countries as dissimilar as Chile, South Korea, Brazil, Turkey, and Argentina, policymakers and constitutional experts have vigorously debated the relative merits of different types of democratic regimes. Some countries, like Sri Lanka, have switched from parliamentary to presidential constitutions. On the other hand. Latin Americans in particular have found themselves greatly impressed by the successful transition from authoritarianism to democracy that occurred in the 1970s in Spain, a transition to which the parliamentary form of government chosen by that country greatly contributed. Download -
The Shift to Parliamentary System: Changing the terrain for PO-NGO Intervention by Mr. Earl Parreño --- Every political system is at once unique and different from all others and is in Flux. The Philippine political system is no exception. While it is a creation of colonialism (Its first operational constitution an imitation of the American charter), it has undergone the subtle process of evolution, constantly modifying the political environment. In this process, new political actors in both local and national politics have emerged. The progressive POs/NGOs today have definitely emerged as important actors in the present political arena. T Download -
Presidential versus Parliamentary Government by John Carrey --- The last twenty-five years have witnessed dramatic growth in the number of political regimes that meet basic standards of procedural democracy, such as freedom of association and expression, competitive elections that determine who holds political power, and systematic constraints on the exercise of authority. What has been called the "third wave of democracy" is deiven by the confluence of various trends -- the establishment of democracy in countries with no prior democratic experience... Download -
Democracy: Presidential or Parliamentary - Does it Make a Difference? by Juan Linz --- In recent decades renewed efforts have been made to study and understand the variety of political democracies, but most of those analyses have focused on the patterns of political conflict and more specifically on party systems and coalition formation, in contrast to the attention of many classical writers on the institutional arrangements. With the exception of the large literature on the impact of electoral systems on the shaping of party systems generated by the early writings of Ferdinand Hermens and the classic work by Maurice Duverger, as well as the writings of Douglas Rae and Giovanni Sartori, there has been little attention paid by political scientists to the role of political institutions except in the study of particular countries. Download -
Are Parliamentary Systems Better? by John Gerring, Strom Thacker, & Carola Moreno --- The institutional differences between presidential and parliamentary rule are well known, yet the practical effects of these divergent constitutional arrangements within democratic polities have received scant attention. This paper employs a global dataset to test the relationship between a historical measure of parliamentary rule and fourteen indicators ranging across three policy areas: political development, economic development, and human development. We find a strong relationship between parliamentarism and good governance, particularly in the latter two policy areas. To the extent that these institutions influence the quality of governance, parliamentary systems may offer advantages over presidential systems of democratic rule. Download -
The Failure of the Philippine Presidential System by Bastiaan van de Loo --- This article explains why the Philippines continues to be a weak state and that the prospects for building a stronger, sustainable state are dim under the current political system. Philippine elections are won through a mix of popularity, populism and money politics. This seriously undermines the strength of the state since the oligarchy expects returns for their investment in a candidate's campaign. Download -
Political Institutions & Corruption: The Role of Unitarism & Parliamentarism by John Gerring & Strom Thacker --- The CoRRECT™ Movement agrees with this paper in their finding that corruption tends to be lower in countries that use parliamentary systems, which is consistent with the findings of Loayza, Lederman, & Soares (2001). However, we disagree with Gerring & Thacker's finding that Federalism worsens corruption as this is conflated with bicameralism, which their paper claims worsens corruption levels. This is because all federalist countries but one (Fed. States of Micronesia) are bicameral. It also contradicts Loayza, Lederman, & Soares' finding that decentralization (of which Federalism is one type) improves accountability & lessens corruption. Download -
Accountability & Corruption: Political Institutions Matter by Norman Loayza, Daniel Lederman, & Rodrigo Soares --- This study uses a cross-country panel to examine the determinants of corruption, paying particular attention to political institutions that increase accountability. Even though the theoretical literature has stressed the importance of political institutions in determining corruption, the empirical literature is relatively scarce. Our results confirm the role of political institutions in determining the prevalence of corruption. Democracies, parliamentary systems, political stability, and freedom of press are all associated with lower corruption Download -
Presidentialism, Multiparty Systems & Democracy: The Difficult Equation by Scott Mainwaring --- This paper argues that the combination of a multiparty system and a presidential system is inimical to stable democracy. The paper presents empirical evidence that shows that few (4 of 25) stable democracies have presidential systems. Several features of presidential systems contribute to explaining why so few have become stable democracies; this paper focuses particularly on the possibility that presidential systems are more prone to immobilism, weak executive power, and destabilizing executive/legislative conflict than parliamentary systems. Download
Let’s be honest. Economic Liberalization is rather obvious to anyone who is untainted by pseudo-Nationalist pro-Oligarch or pro-Communist leftist propaganda: Less Protectionism = More investors = More Jobs = Good for everyone. No issues there among logical and rational people who do their best to stay away from misguided ideological biases. Economic Liberalization’s obvious benefits are rather straightforward and easy to understand. More Jobs, More Prosperity.
Imperial Manila’s congestion is way too obvious
Evolving Federalism‘s benefits are also rather obvious: Just wander around Manila and see how over-congested and over-crowded it is, all because most economic opportunities are found exclusively in the capital, leaving the regions and provinces relatively neglected. Region-based decentralization (aka “Evolving Federalism”) thus ensures that empowering the regions economically and politically can give them the initiative and the power to pursue their own economic and cultural development. Why limit development only to the Capital when we have an entire country with 7,107 islands many of which are ripe for development? Evolving Federalism is thus an easy-to-understand proposition. Spread development.
But what about Shifting to the Parliamentary System? Alas, the US-centric media, news information, and Hollywood-based entertainment that Filipinos are largely exposed to inundates Filipinos with the words “President” and “Presidential“, so much so that we are just unable to shake off our fixation on the current Presidential System that is inspired – in form, though not in substance – by the American system. Understanding how shifting to the Parliamentary System will provide solid benefits to the Philippines most definitely requires that Filipinos first gain a good enough understanding of how a Parliamentary System truly works.
Filipinos are too enamored by Hollywood’s portrayal of the US President that we can’t imagine letting go of our US-derived Presidential System – (The West Wing; Dave; The American President; Sum of All Fears)
A large number of Filipinos have almost zero understanding of it unfortunately, and this is because we have no real exposure to it, unless such Filipinos live or work abroad as OFW’s in countries that actively use Parliamentary Systems. Most Filipinos don’t understand how a Prime Minister emerges, and the most common mistake Filipinos make is in thinking that Prime Ministers are “voted by the members of the Legislature to become Prime Ministers.” Wrong.
That is how Speakers of the House in the USA and Philippines – both Presidential Systems – are chosen. That is also how Speakers of Parliament in Parliamentary Systems are chosen. Speakers can be anyone: and they are chosen by their peers to become Speakers and Speakers are not the same as Prime Ministers. In the US & Philippine System, Speakers of the House “preside” over debates as moderators, yet they may be partisan and take sides on policies or issues. Majority Floor Leaders play the debating “lead role” that Prime Ministers in Parliamentary Systems play.
But in Parliamentary Systems, Speakers are strictly non-partisan and facilitate debates between two sides, and cannot take sides. For the longest time, Speakers of Parliament also wore distinctive attire: Wigs and Robes, resembling judges. Prime Ministers, on the other hand, lead the Majority side (aka “the Government”) in debates against the Minority side, which is in turn led by the Leader of the Opposition.
Prime Ministers actively engage in debate. Speakers do not.
The Speaker is the “Debate Moderator” who presides over and facilitates debates. The Prime Minister is the lead debater of the Majority team (“the Government”) against the Minority team (“the Opposition”)
Most Filipinos do not realize that Prime Ministers in Parliamentary Systems must always necessarily be the most senior leader (aka “the Party Leader) of the party that gets the Majority of all parliamentary seats (50% + 1 of all seats), or is the most senior leader of the party that has the most number of seats within a coalition that was formed with several other parties to form the majority bloc. Facts like these are often unknown to most Filipinos and this causes many to be unable to appreciate the logical and algorithmic superiority of the Parliamentary System versus the Presidential System, as they tend to think that what is currently practiced in the current Presidential System pertaining to the selection of the Speaker of the House will also apply in the selection of the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, that assumption is incorrect.
It is imperative that Filipinos be educated and informed to at least understand how Parliamentary Systems basically work and avoid wrongly assuming that the way the current House of Representatives in the Philippines works is also how a future Philippine Parliament will work.
To gain a good basic understanding of how parliamentary systems work, please familiarize yourselves first with the British Westminster System by visiting the UK’s Parliamentary Website (http://www.parliament.uk/) or by learning a bit about the Spanish Parliament.
Numerous links below have been compiled in order to give all Filipinos a better appreciation of how a Parliamentary System works and, more importantly, why Parliamentary Systems are Superior to Presidential Systems.
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Interview on GNN’s Business Portal Trends & Analysis “The Mid-East Crisis & Constitutional Reform” – focusing on the Parliamentary System:
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The articles below are extremely helpful to understanding the advantages that using a Parliamentary System has over using a Presidential System. It also helps that these articles talk about inputs of people from a variety of countries so that a much more comprehensive series of perspectives can be viewed.
Articles that other people wrote:
1. Parliament Works Better by Craig Ruff
2. Failure of the Presidential System by Mike (Netwars Blog)
3. Some Appealing Features of a Parliamentary System by Eric Black
4. Dismissing Gridlock: A Case for Parliamentary Systems by Dr. Lee Drutman
5. Parliamentary Government trumps Presidential by Ramesh Thakur
6. Why are Presidents Less Effective than Prime Ministers? by John Pavlus, based on the research of Daniel Deiermeier, Pohan Fong, & Razvan Vlaicu
7. Does America Need a Prime Minister? by Dr. Fareed Zakaria
8. Spain’s Electoral System – Historical Accident
9. Ivory Coast Can Learn from the Parliamentry System of Governance by Mamadou Koulibaly
10. Fika urges return to the Parliamentary System by Edwin Olofu
11. The National Question: Towards A New Constitutional Order by Anthony Enahoro
12. A Vote for Parliamentary Democracy by Cosmas Odoemena
13. Is Parliamentary the Best Option For Nigeria? by Davidson Iriekpen
14. Ajibola Advocates A Return to the Parliamentary System by Ifedayo Adebay
15. Parliamentary System is Best by Ibiyinka Solarin
16. Abdullah Abdullah of Afghanistan: Pro-Parliamentary
17. Might a Parliamentary System Better Serve Mexico? By Patrick Corcoran
18. Zakaria, Parliamentarism Vs. Presidentialism & Budget by Don Rich
19. Egypt Doesn’t Need Another Pharaoh by Alfred Stepan
20. Egypt’s Power Shift: from President to Parliament – through Proportional Representation by Ellen Lust
21. The Problem of a Presidential-Multiparty System by Hanta Yuda A.R.
Spanish Parliament Building – Madrid
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Articles to read:
- Philippine Progress: Shift in Sports, Shift in System — http://correctphilippines.org/philippineprogress
- Senator Pangilinan & the Parliamentary System — http://correctphilippines.org/spps
- The Parliamentary System fits the Philippines — http://correctphilippines.org/parliament_fits_the_philippines
- Two Filipinos: A Football Legend and a Spanish Prime Minister —http://correctphilippines.org/2_filipinos
PDF Files & Academic Studies:
- Perils of Presidentialism by Juan Linz, PhD
- Democracy: Presidential or Parliamentary – Does it Make a Difference? by Juan Linz, PhD
- The Advantages of Parliament beyond the Perils of Presidentialism: Parliament’s Prospects for Indirect Deliberative Democracy by François de Soete
- Should the Philippines Turn Parliamentary? by Butch Abad
- Corruption is Less in Parliamentary than Presidential Systems by Drs. Lederman, Loayza, and Soares
- Are Parliamentary Systems Better? by Drs. Gerring, Thacker, & Moreno
- IPER’s Whitepaper on the Parliamentary System by Earl Parreño
- Comparing Parliamentary versus Presidential Systems’ Corruption levels by Drs. Gerring & Thacker
- Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What is to be done? by Dr. Clarita Carlos & Mr. Dennis Lalata (This is a book, start on page 16)
- Recruiting from Parliament and Beyond: The Selection of Ministers in Multilevel Spain by Juan Rodríguez Teruel
- Germany: The Original Mixed Member Proportional System by Michael Krennerich
- The Common Law and Economic Growth: Hayek Might be Right by Paul G. Mahone
- Democracy with An Adjective: Liberal Democracy in A Muslim Society by Dr. Bican Shahin
- Constitutional Choices for New Democracies by Arend Lijphart
- Latin American Presidencies Interrupted by Arturo Valenzuela
- Can Presidentialism Work Like Parliamentarism? by Josep M. Colomer and Gabriel L. Negretto
- Presidentialism, Multipartism, and Democracy The Difficult Combination by Scott Mainwaring
- Government Coalitions and Legislative Success Under Presidentialism and Parliamentarism by José Antonio Cheibub, Adam Przeworski, and Sebastian Saiegh
- Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarianism versus Presidentialism by Wolfgang Müller, Torbjörn Bergman & Kaare Strøm
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Useful Country Rankings:
Parliamentary Systems outperform Presidential Systems in the Heritage Foundation’s and Wall Street Journal’s Economic Freedom Index – 2008
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Parliamentary Systems outperform Presidential Systems in terms of being corruption-free, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index of 2010
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Countries using Parliamentary Systems are better at protecting Property Rights than countries using Presidential Systems. (USA is only at number 19)
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Countries using Parliamentary Systems dominate the top 30 rankings of countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index.
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Parliamentary Systems outperform Presidential Systems on the UNDP’s Human Development Index (2010)
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Parliamentary Systems outperform Presidential Systems in GDP per Capita
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The list of Worst 30 countries according to GDP per Capita is dominated by countries using Presidential Systems
Useful Diagrams on the Parliamentary System
Why Presidents in Presidential Systems are SINGLE POINTS OF FAILURE
Why Parliamentary Systems are more stable and less prone to influence-peddling and corruption…
Parliamentary Systems feature Shadow Cabinets who are always monitoring and scrutinizing the Government Cabinet. Another reason why Parliamentary Systems are less prone to Corruption than Presidential Systems.
