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Philippine Politics and the Marcos Technocrats: The Emergence and Evolution of a Power Elite

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For politics readers drawn to hidden power

This is a sharp, revealing look at how expertise, not just dynasty, became a route to power in the Philippines. You get a richer picture of the Marcos years by seeing how technocrats navigated government, business, and global institutions like the IMF and World Bank. If you like political history that explains who really shapes policy behind the scenes, this feels especially rewarding.

  • NBDB National Book Awards Nominee for History (2022)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.
Just Arrived

Philippine Politics and the Marcos Technocrats: The Emergence and Evolution of a Power Elite

Regular price $11.90
Unit price
per
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ISBN: 9789715509138
Date of Publication: 2019-01-01
Format: Paperback
Goodreads rating: 4.19
(rated by 21 readers)

Description

While studies on Philippine elites have generally assumed that their political and economic power emanate from belonging to political dynasties, Philippine Politics and the Marcos Technocrats: The Emergence and Evolution of a Power Elite elucidates the emergence of the Philippine technocracy, not from their politico-economic backgrounds, but from their technical knowledge and expertise. Such technical skills were needed by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos and by multilateral lending institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This book traces the rise of technocrats who were part of President Marcos’s pre-martial law administration (1965–1972) and who segued into the martial law regime. It looks into their family and educational backgrounds and how these have shaped and developed the technocratic know-how which made them valuable to local businesses and multinational corporations in the 1950s to the 1960s. This ultimately led to their recruitment into government in the 1960s--a time when the state was increasingly expanding its economic activities in the public sphere. The book shows that precisely on matters of economic policy-making, there was that precarious dynamics between the technocrats on one hand, and a pre-martial law Congress and the business community on the other, both dominated by family economic interests. The book thus hopes to add to the scant existing literature that illustrates how power elites like technocrats transform into important players in policy-making.
 

For politics readers drawn to hidden power

This is a sharp, revealing look at how expertise, not just dynasty, became a route to power in the Philippines. You get a richer picture of the Marcos years by seeing how technocrats navigated government, business, and global institutions like the IMF and World Bank. If you like political history that explains who really shapes policy behind the scenes, this feels especially rewarding.

  • NBDB National Book Awards Nominee for History (2022)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.