000			01878pab a2200193 454500
008			180718b1999 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aMontinola, Gabriella R.
245			_aPoliticians, parties, and the persistence of weak states: lessons from the Philippines
260			_c1999
300			_ap.739-74
362			_aOct
520			_aUnder what conditions will politicians strengthen state capabilities through bureaucratic reform? This article presents a principal agent model of state capacity that shows that unless competition to influence policy is largely confined to a single dimension, politicians have no incentive or `political will' to adopt bureaucratic reform. The validity of this model is tested using the experience of the Philippines in the period 1946-72. It is found that politically relevant groups in the Philippines were competing to influence policy over issues of social welfare, economic nationalism and control over public spending, and that groups' demands over these issues failed to align along a single dominant dimension. Consistent with expectations derived from the principal-agent model, there were numerous calls for and attempts to improve bureaucratic performance, but the calls went unheeded and the attempts failed miserably. The study highlights a lesson of potential use to countries currently undergoing democratization. It argues that state capacity is not a function of insulating the state from societal forces, but rather of clarifying lines of authority and accountability in the hierarchy of principal-agent relationships between society, politicians and bureaucrats. - Reproduced
650			_aPoliticians - Philippines
650			_aPolitical parties - Philippines
650			_aPhilippines - Politics and government
650			_aPolitics and government
773			_aDevelopment and Change
909			_a47832
999			_c47832 _d47832