The State, Civil Society, and Foreign Actors: The Politics of Philippine Industrialization

Abstract

In the Philippines, the politics of the industrialization process is best understood by examining the process of collaboration and contestation that have marked the relationship among three key actors: a weak state, powerful elites in civil society, and in fluential foreign actors. Unlike the insulated developmentalist states of East Asia and the relatively stronger states of ASEAN, the Philippine state has been a captive of powerful vested interests. Among the dominant actors of civil society, the landed capitalists have shown an extraordinary resilience by diversifying their bases of wealth, enabling them to dominate the manufacturing class nurtured by the import-substitution industrialization (TSIJ period. During this period, foreign investment and joint-venture arrange ments strengthened an inward-looking market orientation that made the shift to export orientation more difficult. To sustain industrial and development, the state should construct and support a growth coalition9' of key social actors.