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Sector‐Specific Development and Policy Vulnerability in the Philippines
Author(s) -
Ricks Jacob I.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/dech.12300
Subject(s) - leverage (statistics) , vulnerability (computing) , politics , scarcity , discretion , developmental state , economics , construct (python library) , phenomenon , institutional change , development economics , political science , economic system , political economy , market economy , public administration , law , physics , computer security , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language , machine learning
Why does a state build institutional capacity in certain sectors rather than others? Despite having gained leverage explaining the emergence of institutions in the developmental states of East Asia, we have comparatively weak accounts for sub‐national variation in institutional strength, a much more common phenomenon. Investigating the surprising achievements of the Philippines’ National Irrigation Administration, this article advances a theory of sectoral success in the face of a generally poor developmental record. The author demonstrates that executives will only construct institutional capacity when facing strong political pressure combined with resource scarcity. Such vulnerability permits politicians to exercise discretion in choosing which policies to pursue, allowing them to avoid upsetting their coalitions. Once a politician achieves some degree of policy success, he or she is then able to avoid engaging in similar reforms in other fields. Thus we see pockets of institutional capacity in states that otherwise struggle with developmental tasks.