Political Dynasties in the Philippines

In this chapter, James Lull begins by explaining what hegemony is, “the dominance that one social group holds over others” (Lull, 2015, p. 39). According to the text this is not through direct dominance, instead it is created through underlying politics and ideology. In politics, socially powerful people use their influence to convince those with less power that it is in their best interest to do what is actually in those who are socially powerful best interest. There is actually no benefit to the ladder at all, but through social dominance and persuasion is made to seem that it is.

Monarchies were ruled by one family, with a direct blood relative (a son) inheriting the throne and a claim

a. Oligarchy – rule by a few and a minority group holds power over a majority as in an aristocracy or a clerical establishment

There are several important reasons why Anti-Dynasty Bill has to be pass by Congress to limit the power and influence of political families. First, political dynasties corrupt the system of checks and balances. Second, the centrality of dynasties to politics decreases the costs of associated with committing corrupts acts. Even if they face criminal cases or corruption during their term, political actors can still continue to gain benefits of power by having spouses, children or relatives take their seats as officials. Lastly, the continued success of political families despite the corruption charges undermines the law and perpetuates

away the will of the citizens, it is called oligarchy. Megara and Thebes are some of the ancient

Martin notes that word aristocracy translates to "rule of the best" whereas we commonly use the term to indicate rule of wealthy families in which power is passed down but not formalized by edicts or laws (p.41). Given the common use, I will use the term to for the rule of families not ratified by law. Athens had this type of rule in which wealthy land owners welded much power over the people until the demes later broke up

Oligarchy is a small group of people having control of a country or institution. The society today is becoming more like oligarchy. In, past years we have seen many groups that want to take over the world and rule it based on their religion or beliefs.

Oligarchy: Oligachy is a government by the few rich who take decisions affecting the people. This form of government is easily abused into aristocratic or tyrannical government. Truly oligarchy was practiced very well in both ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. It could be reasoned to have led to selecting one among them to lead the people in a particular case, which either usually led to good decisions like in Athens into democratic principles of governance or bad decisions of aristocratic or tyrannical leaders as evidenced in

The parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance wherein the executive and legislative branches of the government are intertwined and are lead collectively by a Prime Minister who must have been proven to be competent and capable, as chosen among his party members. However, the Philippines is currently under the presidential system, also a system of democratic but republican governance, which is led this time by a president, and wherein there is a separation of powers between the executive and the legislative. In the presidential system, people have the collective power to vote for the president.

When the hierarchy in a country is really strict, there will be a lot of power distance between the top and bottom of the hierarchy. This will be accepted but is also expected, as every part of the hierarchy reports to the part above it, so it makes sense to them to do so and this will eventually result in a very big power distance between the very top and the very bottom of the hierarchy. This is shown in the PDI of China, it is very high, around 78. This is because of the social emphasis on the importance of family, families in China are build around a certain hierarchy, the oldest members are the most important and have the most power, and this has been taken over by companies as well. A country that shows the opposite of this are the United States, they emphasize equality and try to reinforce cooperative interaction across power levels, this resulted in a low score of 40.

Though such institutions are capable of reaffirming certain statements of power, hegemony itself is, as Raymond Williams states, "a whole body of practices and expectations...our ordinary understanding of the nature of man and his world...a sense of reality...a sense of absolute" (4).

Aristocratic Government – the rule by few elites. Its success is depended on the people that rule. It however degenerates into oligarchy which is when men of property take over government.

Looking back to the previous government systems in different periods in Philippine history, we can see that our present government system is somehow shaped and patterned from the previous systems that prevailed in our country. Pre – historically we have seen how they established their government and basically, we can say that it is far more primitive than the present system that we have. However, the basic principles like the consultation of the datus to the elders can somehow be seen in the present by the presence of political advisers where our president consults aside from the members of the senate and the congress. The barangay system

Political dynasty is a well known method of politicians in the Philippines wherein the members of the family is made also a member of the government in order for them to not lose power but to gain more power. This act is an unfair and unjust because the government is not a business that a family can run by themselves, but the government is for all and other people should be given chances wherein they can be the one that leads a community.

In “Biographies of Hegemony” by Karen Ho, she emphasizes that it is “only through the small and the everyday that we can understand the criteria of hegemony in all its particularity and contextuality” (168). To fully understand and evaluate someone or a group, people must look at the small qualities they have and the everyday stories each person has lived or seen. Smallness can be defined as certain experiences and individual characteristics that are overlooked, especially by big businesses and corporations such as Wall Street. By knowing a person down to their core and reviewing their small stories and individual experiences, people can begin to unravel and fully understand hegemony and how it came to be. Smallness tends to be overlooked and