Electoral Dynamics in the Philippines: Money Politics, Patronage and Clientelism at the Grassroots

This new text provides a systematic analysis of grassroots level electioneering in the Philippines, using data gathered in the context of the 2016 elections, and combining in-depth ethnographic fieldwork with a national comparative scope.

The chapters in this volume detail and analyse the electoral dynamics in a number of localities in order to shed light on how electoral campaigns are organised across regions of the Philippines, with particular focus on how candidates and their campaigns choose to appeal to and mobilise voters, the kinds of political networks used in campaigns, and how voters respond to different kinds of electoral appeals. It also analyses how Philippines candidates use political machines, clientelist networks and the delivery of patronage to secure election, identifies commonalities and differences across the Philippines, and engages in current debates in the literature about elections in developing democracies, the structure and organisation of clientelism, and the role of money in elections.