"Strong Republic" Sidetracked: Oligarchic Dynamics, Democratization, and Economic Development in the Philippines.

The article discusses the comparison of the Philippine economy with its neighboring countries. It traces the influence of powerful oligarchs, rich clans and extended kinship in its economic policies and states that the same process was still practiced during the time of former president Ferdinand Marcos and even after martial law under presidents Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo. It concludes that democratization has not brought significant economic changes.