000			01765nam a2200181 4500
999			_c510171 _d510171
008			190802b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aArugay, Aries A. _97640
245			_aPolarization without poles: Machiavellian conflicts and the Philippines' lost decade of democracy, 2000-2010.
260			_c2019
300			_ap.122-136.
520			_aThe Philippines’ long democratic experience has been remarkably free of deeply politicized cleavages. Roman Catholicism as a hegemonic religion prevents religious polarization, ethnic identity fragmentation limits ethnic polarization, and weak parties forestall ideological or class polarization. Nevertheless, the country suffered a crisis of polarization during the short-lived Estrada presidency (1998–2001) and that of his successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2001–2010). The severe conflict was a product of power maneuvers by anti-Estrada forces, followed by anti-Arroyo actors returning the favor, given her gross abuses of power. Echoing Machiavelli’s famous distinction, the conflict pitted Estrada’s popoli (the many) against Arroyo’s oligarchic grandi (the few). This Machiavellian conflict ended with an oligarchic reassertion of Madisonian democratic rule through the electoral victory of Benigno Simeon Aquino III in 2010. We conclude the article by considering whether the populist challenge of current president Rodrigo Duterte (2016– ) might spark a similarly destabilizing conflict in the years to come. - Reproduced.
650			_aPhilippines - Politics and Government _97641
650			_aPolarisation _97642
700			_aSlater, Dan _97643
773			_aThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
906			_aDemocracy - Philippines
942			_2ddc _cAR