PART 2 - POLITICAL ANALYSIS MIDTERMS EXAM

LAST ENCOUNTER (10-05-26) TOPIC DISCUSSION

Political Freedom, Political Decentralization, Civil Society, Constitutionalism, Political Openness, Democratization

Political Change is usually equated with?

• Change

• The Absence of Change

What are the Two Components of Change?

Political Change

An integral component in all faucets of political life.

Globalization

The best case study on change in general is the phenomena on?

Economic Context of Globalization

Obvious in the context of trading, flow of goods, movement of people.

Sociocultural Context of Globalization

The context of celebrating culture.

Sociocultural and Economic Context

What are the 2 types of Context in Globalization?

Products and Services, Technology, People, Capital, Information, and Culture

The change of globalization can be understood in the context of?

Globalization

A force that really changed not only the political systems but the way we live and interact with other people.

Revolution

Sudden, extreme or complete change in the way people live, work, etc.

Evolution

A slow, gradual, change in development.

Evolution

Usually Preferred, it refers to the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.

Resistance

The default mode of change is?

Continuity

Refers to the aspects of political systems, institutions, and behaviors that remain stable over time.

Continuity

It highlights the enduring features of political life, such as traditions, norms, and established practices.

Stability, Incremental Change, Cultural Factors

What are the 3 implications of CONTINUITY?

Stability

Continuity often reflects the stability of political systems.

Institutions like the judiciary, executive, and legislative bodies may retain their functions despite changes in leadership or policy.

Incremental Change

Political change may occur gradually, with shifts in policy or leadership that build on existing structures rather than radically altering them.

This perspective is useful in understanding reforms that are more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Cultural Factors

Long-standing political cultures, identities, and values can shape responses to change, leading to resistance against abrupt shifts.

Change

Continuity is also interpreted as absence of?

(Continuity) Enduring Features of Political Life

Political Dynasty, Patron-Client Relationships, Poverty as a continuing backdrop (Vote Buying, Violence)

Stability

This is why if someone suggests changes in the government;

• Parliamentary, federal instead of presidential unitary,

• Reaction is why?

• Why do we need to change?

• What is the evil in the system you want to change?

Cultural Factors

If we say continuity, there is that desire to preserve the status quo. This is why we have a different perspective of poverty.

Discontinuity

Significant breaks or changes in political systems, often resulting in shifts in power, ideology, or policy.

• Revolutions, regime changes, or the emergence of new political movements.

Crisis and Transformation, New Paradigms, Agency and Contingency

What are the 3 implications of Discontinuity?

Crisis and Transformation

Discontinuity often arises in times of crisis, such as economic collapse, social upheaval, or external conflict, which can lead to dramatic political changes

New Paradigms

Discontinuous changes can create new political paradigms, ideologies, or systems, fundamentally altering the landscape of governance and societal organization

Agency and Contingency

Emphasizing discontinuity allows analysts to focus on the roles of individual and collective agency, highlighting how leaders, movements, or unexpected events can reshape political realities.

Crisis and Transformation

Conflict for Political Science is not necessarily negative, it is a political opening/blessing in disguise.

• COVID-19 was a crisis but then it was a political opening that could usher in change and transformation (Blended Modality, Governments realize that services can be facilitated online).

• Asian Financial Crisis

• The 1986 Revolution hadn’t led to much needed reform in the political system.

New Paradigms

• Analytical lenses are just responses to the contemporary world. They emerge as new lenses to explain/interpret the world

• From Millennium Development Goal (MDG, 2015) to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG, 2030)

• Teachers must also have to update the instruction because it may no longer be responsive to what is happening in the world

Agency and Contingency

● During the pandemic, we realize how important the role of leaders were.

● We are equally interested to both (Continuity and Discontinuity), but it requires critical (and sometimes ethical) whether it is time to change and not to change.

Interconnectedness, Contextual Analysis, Comparative Approaches

The 3 ways of Balancing Continuity and Discontinuity?

Interconnectedness

Understanding how continuity can provide a foundation for discontinuous change.

For instance, existing institutions may adapt to new realities rather than being completely overhauled.

Contextual Analysis

Political change should be examined within specific historical, cultural, and social contexts.

What appears as discontinuity in one context might be seen as continuity in another

Comparative Approaches

Comparing different political systems can reveal how some aspects remain constant while others undergo significant change, enriching our understanding of political dynamics.

Interconnectedness

The 1987 Constitution/Any Constitution has provisions that it can’t be changed 5 years from its adaption

• the Constitution cannot be changed every year.

• Implementation Study

• You have to give it time to settle/reach stability/implement, cause people must be familiar w/ the changes/systems/they have to react

• That’s where you can do implementation study.

Implementation Study

• You cannot make this study if the law is still one year old, the safe is 5 years?

Interconnectedness

Existing institutions may adapt to new realities rather than being completely overhauled.

• You have to balance discontinuity and continuity.

Contextual Analysis

Industrial Revolution is different from Globalization/rise of AI.

• AI is evolutionary/continued from the digital innovation of globalization.

• It is a continuation of globalization OR AI discontinued/literally changed the way we think.

• It has positive and negative implications of change – not everyone can understand it is supposed to be a tool.

Revolutionary

But if AI in terms of how it affected employment/scholars/artists/the tendency to penetrate in almost all aspects of our lives, then it can be analyzed as?

Political Change

A complex interplay of continuity and discontinuity.

Political Development

Analyzing both aspects of Continuity and Discontinuity helps scholar and practitioners grasp the nuances of?

Analysis of change, Absence of change/continuity, and Discontinuity.

Analysis of political change includes?

Political Change

This Phenomenon depends on actors' capacity to shape their environment.

● It is influenced by structural, agential, and ideational factors.

Exercise of Agency

Nothing takes the lead/champion (Animal Rights/Sustainable Development champion) that would constantly push Congress to push the law, nothing will change.

Structural Factors

● Context shapes opportunities and constraints.

● Access to resources (capital, knowledge, time) is uneven.

● Structured by class, ethnicity, gender, and other factors.

Context shapes opportunities and constraints.

In other countries, Tertiary Education is a privilege. You need to take a very hard national exam and you need to take and pass before getting into college.

Structured by class, ethnicity, gender, and other factors.

This may be relevant in India or countries where class, ethnicity, gender and other factors are significant.

Natural constraints:

• Beyond human control

• Social constraints: institutional delays, policy processes, coordination issues.

• Both affect political outcomes

Temporal Dimension

• Timing matters in political change

• Crises create opportunities for reform

• Environmental events can accelerate policy action.

Temporal Dimension

When you study Structure and Agency in relation to Political Change consider?

Timing matters in political change

• When Enrile decided to revolt against Marcos Sr. at the time, timing is everything.

• When they revolted against the President, they were declared as heroes of EDSA, but Trillanes were court martialed. Timing matters in political change – Strike when the iron is hot.

• Because public perception matters – how can public perception be influenced? Narrative.

Crisis create opportunities for political reform

● COVID 19 Pandemic

● One of the reasons the late Cory Aquino was having a hard time is no political experience/she was a housewife.

● Marcos and Enrile are one of the people who staged series of coup de ’tat against Cory Aquino.

● Crisis creates opportunities for reform or vise versa. It can stagnant change/development – Timing is everything.

Environment events can accelerate policy action.

● It can halt/encourage passage of policy because of the environmental crisis we experienced.

● These are just temporal dimensions when analyzing political change.

● Once it’s in the internet, you can’t recover it. It’s there forever.

● Timing at all was not the appropriate context.

Agential Factors

● Actors make history through decisions and actions.

● Traits such as leadership, charisma, and strategy matter.

● Ability to mobilize support is crucial.

Temporal Dimensions

It can be supported through __________ like culture but it’s all about the leader (i.e. - how charismatic a leader is.)

Agency and Structure Interaction

● Actors operate within constraints but can reshape them.

● Strategic use of resources enhances influence.

Ideational Factors

● Ideas mediate between structure and agency.

● Interpretations shape political behavior.

● Policy change often follows shifts in ideas

Thacherism and Reaginism reflect ideological shifts, Neoliberal policies changes in economic thinking, Ideas can redefine political possibilities.

What are some examples of Ideational Change?

Power and Political Change

● Shaping societal preferences is key to power.

● Governments that influence public opinion achieve deeper reforms.

● Ideational leadership drives institutional transformation.

Governments that influence public opinion achieve deeper reforms.

○ Leaders with mass support have a role in influencing policies.

○ Electoral System – How we convert votes into seats.

○ In other countries, it is necessary for a ⅔ majority or proportional representation so it won’t be hard to convert power to political legitimacy.

○ How will you demand support from the people who didn’t vote for you?

○ The Electoral System is a factor that would fall under structure/structural factors.