ABSTRACT
This chapter examines characteristics and causal factors related to the Philippine party system. Using Mainwaring and Scully’s institutionalization framework as a point of departure the chapter first demonstrates that the Philippines is indeed under-institutionalized (inchoate) and discusses changes in the degree of institutionalization over time. It then presents an explanation for why the party system has developed as it has in the Philippines, an explanation which also accounts for the changes we observe over time. Specifically, the chapter argues that the development of the Philippine party system is tied to the manner in which democracy unfolded in the Philippines. Early decisions by colonial administrators and Philippine elite had the unintended consequence of entrenching a particular style of political party which has dominated the Philippines polity ever since. In the decades since, when the question of institutional reform has arisen the Philippines elite has consistently and sometimes strategically opted for outcomes that were inimical to greater party institutionalization.
