Analysing The Philippine Political Party System Politics Essay

Analysing The Philippine Political Party System Politics Essay First, there is a need to know the difference between strongly institutionalized party systems from weak ones. For a party system to be considered as strongly institutionalized, it must have two characteristics: (1) the stability in the policies and patterns of inter-party rivalry, and (2) the view of political actors on parties as legitimate and crucial parts of the democratic process. On the other hand, a weakly institutionalized party system has the following characteristics: (1) there is a high degree of instability in the policies and patterns of inter-party rivalry; (2) the birth and death rates of parties are high- there are a lot of new political parties entering the system and a lot of existing parties leaving the system; (3) high degree of electoral instability-the fate of the individual parties depend on the results of the election, and last; (4) the political actors view of parties as just spare at best and as a danger at worst (Allen Hicken). Analysis of the Philippine Party System For a party system to be considered as strongly institutionalized, the inter-party rivalry must be stable and the political actors must view political parties as legitimate and important. However, in the Philippine setting, these two characteristics seem to be missing. Stability of Interparty Rivalry Electoral Volatility A good indicator of the stability of interparty rivalry of party systems is the gauge of electoral volatility. Electoral volatility determines the level to which there is variation in aggregate party vote shares from one election period to another. When there is a low volatility score, it affirms that the same political parties receive constant degrees of support from one election period to another, therefore, the pattern of inter-party rivalry is considered as stable. A high volatility score indicates that there is instability in the preferences of voters from one election period to another and/or there is elite-driven changes made to the party system, such as the termination of existing parties, the birth of new parties, party coalitions, party factions, etc (Mainwaring and Zoco 2007). In spite of all these, electoral volatility is not a perfect gauge of the stability of interparty rivalry because finding party vote shares is tremendously complicated where there are many party coal itions or factions, or where a candidates party affiliation is difficult to determine. The latter remains a problem in the Philippine party system because some candidates often claim to be affiliated with several parties. That fact alone tells that party labels in the Philippines are so fluid that it becomes hard to measure the volatility of electoral results (Ufen 2008). It is also significant to consider that electoral volatility does not allow one to distinguish among the sources of instability-whether they are indecisive voters or temporary parties (Hicken and Kuhonta). Another problem with the Philippines is that it lacks the updated information needed to measure electoral volatility. During the 2001, 2004 and 2007 elections, the information needed regarding party vote shares was not yet released and there was even a scandal involving accurate vote counting during the 2004 elections. However, even though updated information are missing, Allen Hicken was still able to measure el ectoral volatility of the Philippines using only the vote shares information available and supplemented those information with available data from party seat shares. The only available data was from the elections during 1992, 1995 and 1998 elections. Table 1 Electoral Volatility Period Number of Elections Volatility of 1st 2nd elections Volatility of Last election Average Volatility Philippines 1992-1998 3 46.4 28.2 37.3 (Source: Hicken and Kuhonta) Electoral volatility is measured by taking the sum of the net change in the percentage of votes achieved or lost by each party from one election to the next and then dividing it by two. A score of 100 indicates that the political parties winning votes are utterly different from the one election to the other. A score of 0 indicates that the same political parties achieved exactly the same percentage of votes from two different elections. The higher the volatility score, the less stable the pattern of inter-party rivalry and vice versa (Allen Hicken). Because the Philippines electoral volatility score are quite high, it is clear that the inter-party rivalry in the Philippine party system is still not stable, contributing to the party system being weakly institutionalized. Voters still do not have loyalty to parties and parties have not yet established a certain support base that would vote for them each and every election. The absence of loyalty and continued support by voters indicate that they still do not see certain political parties as groups that would promote their welfare so they seek and try to vote for other parties every election. The instability of inter-party rivalry in the Philippines makes the party system weaker and political parties less reliable in consolidating the democracy of the country. Birth and Death Rates of Parties The rate of the birth and death of parties in the party system of a country is another factor in determining whether a party is strongly or weakly institutionalized. If there is a high birth and death rate in the party system, it means that the inter-party rivalry is not stable and there are a lot of parties entering and leaving the system. In the post-Martial law period up to 2007, because of the conversion of the Philippine party system from a two party system into a multi-party system, the birth and death rates became high. Stabilization around parties was not present. A large number of political parties continue to enter and leave the system every election, and these rates contribute as well to the electoral volatility of the party system (Allen Hicken). Table 2 Party Birth and Death Rates During House Elections (Seats) Birth Rate Death Rate Number of Parties 1987 NA NA 8 1992 0.43 0.50 7 1995 0.13 0 8 1998 0.50 0.50 8 2001 0.33 0.25 9 2004 0.73 0.11 30 2007 0.33 0.40 27Birth Rate Death Rate # of Parties(Source: Allen Hicken) The shift of the nature of the party system from a two-party into a multi-party system seems to have given the chance for other parties to evolve and get involved in the system, however, it seems that this change only brought unsteadiness to the birth and death rate of parties in the Philippines. Because of the multi-party system, parties can enter and leave the party system freely, although looking at it in different point, it may seem good for the inter-party rivalry basing on the fact that not only a few number of parties can compete and gain seats in the government, it is still not considered good for the institutionalization of the party system for it makes the party competition unstable. The high rate of the death and birth of parties only makes the Philippine party system weaker. View of Political Actors on Parties The perception of political actors on political parties is one of the most important factors for a party system to be considered as strongly institutionalized. If the major political actors doubt the legitimacy and importance of political parties, then it means that there is a lack of institutionalization. The Filipino people or the public are part of the government and they are also considered as political actors. Their views on political parties are very important in determining whether democracy in the Philippines is working well. Conversely, there seems to be a detachment on the principle of real democracy and on the truth of Filipino democracy. For instance, a great number of Filipino people surveyed (around 55 percent) were reported to have been discontented with the way democracy works in the Philippines (Hicken 2009b). This discontentment is strongly interconnected with the doubt of the Filipino people on the genuineness of Philippine political parties. This survey was just a mong the ordinary Filipino citizens, that is why there is also a need to analyze the view of the major political actors themselves on the existing Philippine political parties. Major political actors like the military seems to have been dissatisfied with government a lot of times as well, since military interventions and rumored plans of coups have been present in the country for a couple of times, especially during the 1986 and the 2000 elections (Allen Hicken). Electoral volatility, birth and death rate of parties and the perception on political parties show how weakly connected are the parties to the different social interests/groups in the country. Filipino voters do not have specific parties in which they are loyal to, they do not vote candidates coming just from one political party, they often times vote candidates from different political parties and it is not even consistent with their votes in the previous elections. An instance would be during the 1992, 1998 and 2010 presidential elections, the presidents and the vice-presidents voted were from two different political parties. It is also very hard to identify one political party from another based on their party platforms and ideologies, this difficulty in distinguishing one party from another makes the strings connecting Philippine parties and societal interests and social groups very frail. The number of voters who can genuinely identify with any political party is very small. In one SWS 2006 survey, it has been reported that two-thirds of the people surveyed said that no party truly endorsed their welfare (SWS 2006, Allen Hicken). Nathan Gilbert Quimpo, a professor, summed up the state of Philippine political parties: Far from being stable, programmatic organizations, the countrys main political parties are nebulous entities that can be set up, merged with others, split, resurrected, regurgitated, reconstituted, renamed, repackaged, recycled or flushed down the toilet anytime (Quimpo 2005). What Quimpo wants to point out is that there is no certainty among political parties in the Philippines. They tend to be unsteady and impermanent, every election, parties tend to change, either through factions, coalitions or merges-even members of the parties tend to leave their respective parties once they feel that their own interests are not being pursued. In summary, through the different measures (electoral volatility, birth death rates, perception) used, one can conclude that Philippine political parties and the Philippine party system display a low level of institutionalization, or even, a very weak and fragile institutionalization. The pattern of inter-party rivalry stays fluid and political actors including voters even doubt if political parties are legitimate and necessary for the countrys democracy (Hicken). Analysis of the Thai Party System Political parties and the party system in Thailand, just like those in the Philippines, are also weakly institutionalized. The two characteristics needed for a party system to be considered strongly institutionalized seem to be missing as well in Thailands party system. Stability of Interparty Rivalry Electoral Volatility Having a weakly institutionalized party system, the electoral volatility of the Thai party system is one of the highest in Asia (Kuhonta 2009). However, it is still notable that the electoral volatility of the Thai party system is lesser than that of the Philippine party system (Average volatility of Philippine party system is 37.3, see Table 1 for more details). This means that the interparty rivalry in the Thai party system is more stable compared to that of the Philippines. However, the difference is not that big and, because of the lack of Philippine data, the period measured in the Philippines is only until 1998 while the period measured in Thailand is until 2005. Period Number of Elections Volatility of 1st 2nd elections Volatility of Last election Average Volatility Thailand 1992-2005 6 38.1 28.0 35.0 With the given electoral volatility, it is clear that just like the Filipino voters, Thai voters also lack the loyalty to parties. The numbers stated indicate that Thai voters do not have enough allegiance to a certain party that they tend to vote different parties every election. The commitment of the followers is unsteady and the parties havent established a well grounded support even with the support bases that they claim to have. Birth and Death Rates of Parties The history of Thailand will provide evidence that the parties in the Thai party system come and go like that in the Philippines. The birth and death rate of parties is also high, making the pattern of inter-party rivalry, all the more unstable. Parties in Thailand are especially susceptible to the influence and power of party factions. Party factions are also present in the Philippine party system, but not as much like in the Thai party system. The Thai party system has more factions, while the Philippine party system has a lot of varieties of identical parties being founded, identical meaning having the same ideologies and platforms. These party factions in Thailand, however, do not bring any excellence to the party system but it even makes the birth and death rates of parties become unsteady each and every election period. The factions made by parties themselves do not have sufficient interest to make the party system and the government work well, these factions merely see parties as just roads to their own drives and tours for self interests and political power. As an effect, parties in Thailand tend to just come and go every election (Kuhonta 2009). Although it is right to say that there are exceptions, like the Democrat Party which remains as the longest standing party in Thailand, we still cannot presuppose that the constancy of the lives of just a few parties make the inter-party rivalry more stable. The government of Thailand has done things to make up for the unstable inter-party rivalry of Thai politics parties. Constitutional amendments have been enacted, one of which is included in the 1997 Thai Constitution, it is considered as one of the strongest ways to minimize if not eliminate the practices of party switching. According to the 1997 Constitution, MPs who left their parties within 90 days of registration for a new election would not be able to run in that upcoming election. (Kuhonta 2009). The 1997 constitution seems to have strengthened the pa rty system minimizing the amount of party hopping and switching. However, the amendment only has a limited effect and what needs to be done is to let democracy and the party system take their course in strengthening the government (Kuhonta 2009). View of Political Actors on Parties Electoral volatility can already indicate how loyal Thai voters are to their supported parties, however, the calculated electoral volatility of Thai political parties would already state that parties do not have constant support bases and that those voters do not have constancy when it comes to their votes. Like political actors in the Philippines, it is also evident that political actors in Thailand do not have the best perception on their political parties. The mere fact that voters switch their support from one party to another, every election, means that the parties have not yet cultivated their own mass support bases. The absence of loyalty to particular parties leads to a conclusion that Thai voters are dissatisfied with their political parties. Moreover, the lack of ideology and programmatic platforms and goals also makes it harder for parties to maintain their own support bases. The divided constituency returns supply adequate proofs that parties in Thailand lack their social bases, since this implies that voters do not have loyalty to a certain party. From the year 1986 to the year 1996, it has been recorded that more than 50 percent of constituencies had divided votes. This is with the exception of the two dominant parties that time, which are the Democrat Party and the Thai Rak Thai. Parties do not have connections with social groups like labor unions, womens groups, ethnic communities or other groups who make up most of the voting population. This shallow nature of party roots in society mirrors only the superficial aspect of party organizations (Kuhonta 2009). This is one of the problems of Thai political parties-they do not represent social interests which lead social groups to not extend votes and support to any particular party. Political actors themselves do not think of parties as representatives of their interests and as supporters of their welfare, that is why their perception of parties is not good most of the time. Like in the Philippines, one major political actor that could be considered as an excellent aspect contributing to the view of political actors on parties is the military. The weak connection of the political parties to social groups made them vulnerable to military counteraction. Military often times involved themselves in politics and when they oppose the governance or the reign of one political party, they would counterattack the government through coups. The military is very influential and often times, when they are dissatisfied with the system, they resort to using their power to overthrow a regime. However, Thailand has gone through more coups than the Philippines. Thailand has experienced 18 coups since the concept of party politics began in the year 1932 (Kuhonta 2009).

America’s Present Judicial Structure

America’s judicial system is one of the most well known all over the world. In many countries, people of the state are not given as much opportunity to seek legal redress, or defend one’s self. In the United States, accusers and defendants alike are given the same rights in court regardless of their social standing. I can say that Americans are living with such a great privilege to be able to live with a judicial system and constitution that uphold the inherent rights of every citizen.However, I believe that anything that is created good has the tendency or potential to digress from its original purpose, and as time goes by, may deteriorate or become corrupted. The Founding Fathers have set a constitution that would be the basis for judicial proceedings in the land. They are honest, trustworthy and honorable men. They envisioned a state that upholds the truth and executes justice. But as the generations continue to pass by, there is no guarantee that every judge in the Federal and State courts will have the same integrity as the ones who framed the laws in the past.Thus, the first weakness that I can see in America’s judicial structure is that, if corruption penetrates it, the very laws that uphold the dignity of every human being will be left to the interpretation and disposal of the men who are corrupt. Various literature and entertainment media has portrayed this exact problem of the judicial system. For example, the 1996 movie entitled â€Å"City Hall†, (starring Al Pacino and John Cusack) portrays the high possibility of corruption in the judiciary.In the movie, a judge in the highest court of New York participates in the manipulation of the law, and instead of convicting a guilty man, let him go and hid the documents considered as evidence. As the story unfolds, it became clear that the city mayor was the one who influenced the judge to do the act because it is in the best interest of some wealthy businessmen who helped the may or with his political career. Although this is a fictional story, I can say that there is always fire under the smoke. In real American life, politics has a major impact on the judiciary.If the above statement is true, then there really is a possibility that the executive branch can influence the decisions of the judiciary by applying political pressure. So much has been said about the separation and independence of the branches of government from each other, but in some cases (especially high profile cases and those that stir political interests), the judiciary is highly vulnerable to the influence of the political world. I believe the current judicial structure has not exceeded its constitutional powers, but it is more powerful than what the framers of the constitution originally intended.For example, the Federal court is known as the guardian of the constitution. It is within its power to interpret the law written in the past, and apply it to present day circumstances. Thus, the people who interpret the law are more powerful than the law itself. Although members of the judiciary system are working within the limits and bounds set by the constitution, the constitution itself gives them the power to interpret and execute the law. This means that with the enormous power in their hands, it is easy to neglect true justice by using legal technicalities.Interpretation of the law is a rather difficult task because the constitution is vague and ambiguous in many ways. Some law scholars believe that the Constitution purposely remains vague in order to be timeless and applicable to all circumstances. Some believe that the constitution should be followed literally and word for word, and if there are vague areas in it, should be changed or amended to be more precise. This ambiguity in the constitution makes way for the neglect of true justice because each trial lawyer interprets the law in a manner that suits his client’s advantage.Because of the vagueness of the constitution, the courtroom often becomes more of a battleground of who is the better lawyer, than a battleground between right and wrong. For example, a person accused of trampling animal rights by offering sheep and goats as sacrifices, may also be acquitted on the grounds of the freedom of religion. The final verdict, however, will depend on who is the better lawyer, more skilled at applying legal technicalities, and more skilled at interpreting the law in a way that suits the taste of the jury.This basic problem of the American justice system was portrayed in another film entitled, â€Å"The Devil’s Advocate†, where a young lawyer has never lost a single case in his entire life, even though his clients are obviously guilty. There is no other way to solve this judicial problem than to amend the constitution itself. In my opinion, there is no need to change the laws that are written by the constitution framers of old. However, modern applications to the said laws sh ould constantly be added to suit the changing needs of society and modern life.Lessening the ambiguity of the constitution will make way for fairer decisions in the court and ensure that guilty men are punished and the innocent are rewarded with freedom. Needless to say, judges must maintain a high standard of integrity to avoid corruption within the judicial system. Corruption can bring down even the strongest of judicial systems. It did once, for the Roman government. In essence, it is still the American people and not the judiciary who has the power to issue a final verdict. Our jury system was created to ensure that courtroom decisions are impartial, and that the citizens of the nation still have the final say.Jurors are chosen from different walks of life and given the responsibility and duty of executing justice. This is a reflection of true democracy and I believe it is one of the major strengths of the American judicial system. Bibliography: City Hall. Dir. Harold Becker. Pe rf. Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello, and David Paymer. 1996. DVD. Touchstone, 2001 MegaEssays. com. â€Å"Federal and State Court Structures and Jurisdiction†. 1 October 2007. The Devil’s Advocate. Dir. Taylor Hackford. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron. Warner Brothers Pictures, 1997.

Biography of Gordon Moore and Overview of Moores Law

Gordon Moore ( born  January 3, 1929 )  is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation and the author of Moores Law. Under Gordon Moore, Intel introduced the worlds first single-chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 invented by Intel engineers. Gordon Moore - The Co-Founding of Intel In 1968, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore were two unhappy engineers working for the Fairchild Semiconductor Company who decided to quit and create their own company at a time when many Fairchild employees were leaving to create start-ups. People like Noyce and Moore were nicknamed the Fairchildren. Robert Noyce typed himself a one-page idea of what he wanted to do with his new company, and that was enough to convince San Francisco venture capitalist Art Rock to back Noyces and Moores new venture. Rock raised $2.5 million dollars in less than 2 days. Moores Law Gordon Moore is widely known for Moores Law, in which he predicted that the number of transistors the industry would be able to place on a computer microchip would double every year. In 1995, he updated his prediction to once every two years. While originally intended as a rule of thumb in 1965, it has become the guiding principle for the industry to deliver ever-more-powerful semiconductor chips at proportionate decreases in cost. Gordon Moore - Biography Gordon Moore earned a bachelors in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1950 and a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1954. He was born in San Francisco on Jan. 3, 1929. He is a director of Gilead Sciences Inc., a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Engineers. Moore also serves on the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology. He received the National Medal of Technology in 1990 and the Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor, from George W. Bush in 2002.

The Walt Disney Co.’s Yen Financing, Questions and Answers

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