"Business-friendly" rule of local elites: capital investments and local politics under globalization in Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Abstract

Elite Rule and Private Capital Investment Philippine local politics has been characterized by oligarchic elite rule in which a few local elite families dominate local public positions such as mayor, congressman and governor, and accumulate wealth. Therefore, many studies on Philippine local politics have tried to understand how they reproduce and strengthen their power bases in their localities. The general trend of the study on local elites has shifted from socio-cultural conditions to state and institutional conditions. The classic study of Lande (1965) pointed out that huge land ownership and clientelism with poor tenants are the power bases of local elites. More recent studies, however, focus on accesses to state resources and "rent-seeking" (influence on state power to regulate business) as local elites' power base (Sidel 1999, Kawanaka 2002). Their interest in the state is based on an assumption that acquiring public positions which allow them to access to state resources is the key for them, since private capital is scarce and the state monopolizes resources in Philippine local areas.