"Filipinos' [at the same time have an] equally enduring suspicion of a strong state."

My understanding from their book is that there is an implied desire for strong leadership and good governance that is able to avoid state capture.

Unfortunately, the book merely tells the history of how this State-Society evolved to current events. It does not present a theory of how the situation can be improved.

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Until the dilemma is resolved, and strong countervailing institutions - that we propose further below - are established, progress will remain elusive for the country.

Note: Pictured above is the Anvil edition available in the Philippines. The link in the image is for the international edition.

Very recent history. A gaping gulf lies between the political culture of the national elite and the plebeian Filipinos.

A tenuous web supports the social contract that spans this gulf that is broken and patched by elections and exercises of People power - historical events that punctuate the Abinales and Amoroso thesis of State-Society relations.

Development for the country depends on the accomplishment of the social contract implicitly written in the Constitution for the leaders and the led to work together.

Unfortunately, on one hand, many promises made during the election campaign often remain unfulfilled after candidates take office.

On the other hand, many voters themselves seem to have accepted this situation as the state of nature until the political slights accumulate and a trigger event happens that erupts into the exercise now called People Power.

I believe President Arroyo understands the dynamics well and has walked a tight line. She rightly understood that the people, including the leadership of some key segments like the military and civil society, have gotten tired of the old variants of People Power, i.e. where elected leaders are forced out of Malacañang.

During the May 2010 elections, I sense that the people's patience in staying in line despite the heat, their patience despite the glitches and snafus, and quick acceptance of the automated count as another variant of People Power.

The leadership of the House and the Senate, being master politicians themselves, felt it. The new watchdogs including the IT experts and losing candidates were insensitive to it; thus the initial circus at the national canvassing.

After two days of debates, Congressional leaders forced the start of canvassing with the OAV certificates of canvass to cool the citizens' impatience.

I hope this new variant of People Power shown in the last election translates to a more sustained vigilance by civil society and peoples' organizations in the intervening inter-election period.

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