Superficial Consolidation: Security Sector Governance and the Executive Branch in the Philippines Today

Abstract

Civilian control of the military is a sine qua non for democratic consolidation. In the Philippines, the armed forces have played a major role in the country’s authoritarian past. Yet, despite the advent of democracy, vestiges of authoritarianism have persisted. This chapter analyzes the successes and failures in the efforts of Philippine civilians — through the executive branch — to gain authority over their military, with the objective of achieving consolidated democratic rule. The Philippines provides an interesting case for the analysis of executive-security sector relations, precisely because since 1986 the executive has succeeded, more or less, in keeping the armed forces under control. As such, the lessons learned in this study can shed insight on other country cases. The analysis derives from a conception of civilian control that acknowledges the importance of security sector governance/reform, especially with regard to the need for civilians to achieve supremacy over the military. Generally, the executive branch is important for SSR because it is only in the executive branch that civilians directly stand as superiors to the armed forces. As such, executive branch civilians are in the best location to attempt to rein in the armed forces. The implementation of SSR requires the successful use of executive control strategies to rein in the military.KeywordsExecutive BranchHuman SecuritySecurity SectorQuezon CitySecurity Sector ReformThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.