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CHAPTER II.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

In this section, I endeavor to systematically present and review scholarly materials

relevant to the subject of political ambition of the youth. Such a review identifies potential

research problems (i.e., research gaps) on the same topic while being contextualized in the

Philippines, one of which is the question that this research seeks to answer. It further aims to

synthesize a viable research framework (or frameworks) that is grounded on the work of scholars

who investigated the same topic, which can be used to answer the present research problem.

This review proceeds under various sections. This introduction is followed by a section

that discusses political participation as well as other attendant topics that helps in situating it in

the discipline of political science. In this paper, political ambition is intended to be

conceptualized and studied under this area5. Thereafter, I will present a limited survey of studies

on the political participation of the youth, emphasizing how these studies considered the

normative question of the importance of such participation in a democracy. Different forms of

political participation will be briefly enumerated, and the discussion will end by introducing the

reader to the concept of political ambition as, arguably, the ultimate form of political

participation. The discussion will proceed to defining and comparing types of political ambition.

Special attention will be given to discussing nascent political ambition, which is central to the

present research question that is the subject of this paper.

The next section consists of looking more closely at the concept of political ambition,

particularly, the different ways it has been conceptualized. Specifically, political ambition will be

5
Political ambition has also been studied under the subtopics electoral politics, candidate recruitment, and party
politics. A brief explanation of how different the present problematization of political ambition from a participation
standpoint will be made.

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discussed by explaining how different scholars who used different approaches and/or theories

conceptualized and operationalized political participation and ambition. This will be followed by

a section that reviews the research design and methodology that were used by several researches

representing some of the approaches that will be discussed.

After that is a section devoted to discussing how the concepts of political participation

and socialization have been operationalized in the Philippine context. This will be done by

providing a limited survey of the studies that problematized them, focusing on literature on the

youth. Also included is a brief description of the political context where such phenomena

happen. The last part of this section will look into relevant literature that concerns political

ambition itself: While present researches are arguably silent on political ambition6 in the

Philippines, some literature on two areas local government and the party-list system will be

looked into as possible subtopics where the concept of political ambition is implicitly discussed7.

The last section will attempt to synthesize the concepts from the preceding sections to

produce two frameworks that could be used in studying political ambition of the youth in the

Philippines. I have mentioned this briefly in the research question subsection of the previous

chapter.

6
As conceptualized in this paper
7
The researcher intended to include even narrowly relevant materials that implicitly or even passingly discussed
political ambition in the Philippines. However, there is really nothing to be had in the current literature (at least to
the best of the researchers knowledge) that discusses political ambition the way the concept is used in foreign
researchers. As such, no actual literature concerning local government and the party-list system in the Philippines is
included in this paper. That is also the reason why a stronger connection between political ambition and political
participation will be made here.

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Political Participation, Political Participation of the Youth, and Political Ambition

Defining political participation

What is remarkable about reference materials from which to draw and compare

definitions of political participation is how they introduce their discussion by invoking

normative concerns about it. Schlozman (2011), for example, describes the essentiality of

participation in a democracy, saying, in the vein of Almond and Verba, that it is hard to maintain

stability in a democracy on a national scale without the citizens right to vote for their political

leaders and to take part freely in politics in many other ways (2011, 1260).

Kaase (2011) on the other hand posits the central importance of citizen participation to

the very existence of a society, be it traditional or modern. He emphasized a reality that also

dictates how much of political participation research has been accomplished in terms of units of

analysis: that in a given society, every member, though expected to participate in some way, is

not expected to participate in every way, or in each domain in the society. Domain refers to

the locus of participation the individual (microlevel), the structure that links these individuals

as well as institutions (mesolevel), and the elements crystalized in rules and institutions that

regulate all other domains (macrolevel) (2011, 1777).

Though each acknowledge the normative importance of political participation,

Schlozman and Kaase define it differently. Kaase, for instance, provides a definition that can be

easily operationalized in research; Schlozmans definition focuses more on identifying the

content of political participation, especially in the context of a democracy. Both are insightful

and elucidatory.

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According to Kaase (2011, 1777), participation, broadly defined, refers first, to activities

of individual members of any given meso- or macro-unit of analysis. Note here the immediacy

of identifying the locus and context (the meso and the macro) of the individual behavior

expressed in actions the core of participation from which the phenomenon of participation

can be studied. This emphasis on having a definition that can be easily operationalized in

research is also evident when he said how dynamics and change, as they relate to political

participation, have obvious implications for research design (2011, 1777, emphasis added).

On the other hand, Schlozmans definition focuses more on the content of political

participation, especially voluntary political participation in the context of a democracy.

According to Schlozman (2011, 1260) voluntary political participation refers to any activities of

citizens that intend to influence government action, either directly, by influencing the policy

process, or indirectly, by choosing the people who will create those policies. These activities can

range from signing petitions to letter-writing to protesting to voting to donating money to a

candidate, and can occur at any level from the local, to the national, and, increasingly,

transnationally (2011, 1260).

It is worth noting how both deal with ambiguities in their definitions of participation.

Kaase acknowledges that political participation is quite different from social participation (2011,

1778); indeed, his own survey on the topic reflects this by devoting separate sections on both.

Schlozman, on the other hand, wrestled first with the blurry boundary between the political and

the religious, recognizing how both the religious and secular domains outside of politics

intersects with politics in many ways (2011, 1260), and this is true for political participation.

Second, she wrestled with the ambiguity of the word activity itself that is present in her

definition: is voluntary political participation limited to activities that are clearly political such as

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volunteering for a political party or attending a peace rally, or does it also include private

actions such as political discussions with friends or researching for political information? (2011,

1261).

Political participation of the youth

Much of the motivation to survey the political participation of the youth from a normative

standpoint comes from the belief that the participation of the youth in political processes,

whether formal or informal, is of utmost important for the survival and flourishing of a regime,

especially a democratic one. This is acknowledged by Mycock and Tonge (2012), Fox and

Lawless (2013), and Velasco (2007a). This is also reflected by the abundant literature that

explores the topic of youth and politics in terms of their level of engagement in politics and how

they feel about their government, a sampling of which is discussed below.

Kyranakis and Nurvala (2013) and Strama (1998) acknowledge a widespread sense of

disengagement and cynicism among qualified youth voters in the European Union and the

United States, respectively. What has been clearly established in these studies is that the youth in

these places are not necessarily uninterested in politics per se; they just feel disengaged and

cynical specifically with electoral politics. To elaborate, these studies contend that the youth

were especially active in their participation and membership in civic organizations and fund-

raising charities (Kyranakis and Nurvala 2013; Strama 1998) they have not lost their civic

spirit and democratic impulse (Strama 1998), so to speak. What they lost was interest in

voting, as evidenced in low youth voter turnout in the elections that immediately preceded the

studies (Kyranakis and Nurvala 2013; Strama 1998). In short, the youth tended to value other

kinds of participation (Kyranakis and Nurvala 2013); indeed they substitute these forms for

electoral participation which they feel cannot make a difference (Strama 1998).

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But the more significant parts of both studies come from normative arguments that they

raise about the importance of electoral participation of the youth to their respective political

systems, and hence, their proposed measures to alleviate the problem. Kyranakis and Nurvala,

for one, believe that the indifference of young people in voting presents a serious threat to the

legitimacy of [the European Union] democratic system (2013, 264, emphasis added), adding

that the participation of young people in electoral politics is important to safeguard, for

posteritys sake, the system and its institutions (2013, 265). Strama, on the other hand, ties faith

in the political process itself to the level of democratic participation, including voting, of the

youth in the United States (1998, 71).

At the heels of these normative arguments are proposed measures that are deemed

necessary if youth turnout in elections are to improve. Among others, one of the most remarkable

suggestions of Kyranakis and Nurvala, remarkable because many attempt but few succeed

(Grover 2011), is to lower the statutory voting age to 16 years old. This, according to them, is not

an easy solution, but they see how opportune this is considering the young will still be at

school and can be more formally encouraged and informed about politics (2013, 266). Strama

also has a handful of proposals to solve the problem, but the most remarkable is his suggestion to

open up the political system to alternative political parties (i.e., parties other than the GOP or the

Democratic Party). This is partly because in the elections that preceded his study, independent

candidates for president, and even for local or state positions, performed best among the eighteen

to twenty-four year-olds showing that a substantial number of young people in America are

searching for alternative ways of accessing the political system (1998, 77).

Henn, Weinstein, and Forrest (2005), in assessing the disengagement of the youth in

the United Kingdom from electoral politics, suggest that such disaffection by the young people

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will eventually spill out in the future when they replace their more civic-oriented elders,

undermining and threatening the legitimacy of the political system (citing Mulgan and Wilkinson

1997, 558). This is also a normative concern that guides their study on the attitudes of young

people towards party politics. What did they find? Contrary to assertions of previous literature,

Henn, Weinstein, and Forrest found out that the youth are actually interested in political matters,

and they are also still committed to and approve the idea of elections and the democratic process

(2005, 573). This seems to echo the sentiment in the literature reviewed above, where the young

are willing to uphold democracy and the values and processes it entails, but are somewhat

dissatisfied with how politicians and institutions handle it.

Mycock and Tonges study also express a normative concern in their article that sought to

explore how the different political parties in the United Kingdom engaged with young people

and the concepts of youth citizenship and democratic engagement in the aftermath of the youth

riots in England in 2011 (2012, 139). Specifically, they contend that effective citizenship and

political participation are seen as prerequisites for a functioning society (2012, 155), and that

young people populate a uniquely strategic position within society and in party political

debate about the future development of citizenship and the national community (2012, 138).

Mycock and Tonge sought to understand how political parties understand the concepts

youth citizenship and democratic engagement, and how their understanding translate to their

relationships with the youth. All-in-all, their findings can be summarized into two points (2012,

156). First, the political parties in the United Kingdom have systematically engaged the youth in

programs that emphasized communitarian conceptions of citizenship, undermining civic

engagement that empower the youth politically or socially. This means that these parties expect

the youth to limit their demands to rights that were already enjoyed by their elders. Second,

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political parties continue to consider young people as distinct from the rest of society, and in

effect, the ways they interact with them is reflected by exclusion and uncertainty The youth in

turn would not engage more substantially with these parties (2012, 157).

These four studies that were reviewed, though just a small sampling of abundant

literature on youth political participation available, emphasize the normative concerns about such

kind of participation. The next section digresses from the topic of the youth for a while to discuss

the concept of political ambition.

Defining political ambition

Although it has been operationalized and refined differently in various studies, scholars

seem to have an implicit, general agreement that political ambition refers the desire to run for

and hold an elective office (Bashevkin 1985; Fox and Lawless 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011;

Frederick 2013). It should be noted that arguably much, if not all, of existing political ambition

studies have focused on political ambition in connection with elections. This means that the

locus of political ambition as it has been studied is democracies. For the purpose of this paper, a

brief explanation of how the concept of political ambition has been studied in connection to other

different topics in the context of a democracy will be presented below.

The research problem behind this paper intends to investigate political ambition mainly in

the context of political participation. This means it considers political ambition as a precursor (an

attitude) to a form of political participation (behavior) that which involves deciding to run for

public office and mounting an electoral campaign. To put it more clearly, consider what Lawless

and Fox says:

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Running for public office represents the ultimate act of political participation; it signals

an individuals willingness to put himself or herself before the voters and vie to become a

member of an elected body (2010, 64, emphasis added).

Interestingly, this way of situating political ambition as a topic of study within the realm

of political participation has yielded research questions regarding gender and ethnic differences

and the level of political ambition (see Clark, Hadley, and Darcy 1989; Frederick 2013;

Greenlee, Holman, and Vansickle-Ward 2014; Lawless and Fox 2010; Mansbridge 1999; Merritt

1982; Palmer and Simon 2003), with slight variations on specific concerns. This reflects the

general interest in political participation as a whole in the extent of how different, for example,

the level of political participation between men and women is, and what factors causes such

difference (see Burns, Schlozman, and Verba 2001), and how such differences affect normative

concerns such as adequacy of representation (see Mansbridge 1999). A recent study by Lawless

and Fox (2013) focuses on the surprising early-stage gender gap in political ambition of young

men and women in the United States.

Political ambition has also been studied in the context of candidate recruitment and party

politics (see Herrick 2001). It is important to note that in these contexts, the unit of analysis is the

party. The research questions revolve around what factors parties take into consideration in

choosing which party members should be fielded as candidates, and whether the political

ambition of individual party members affect party choices of candidates to field or not (see

Lawless and Fox 2010, 89-90 for example). It can be said that in these contexts political

ambition serve as the independent variable.

This is clearly different from the way political ambition in the context of political

participation is studied. The unit of analysis is the individual, and one of the frequent goals of

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analysis is to identify which and how sociopolitical factors create or transform political ambition

in individuals. In this case, political ambition is the dependent variable.

Types of political ambition

Four types of political ambition are briefly discussed below: expressive ambition,

progressive ambition, dynamic ambition, and nascent ambition. These types of ambition differ

mainly on when they occur in individuals, and, based on researches, what types of factors (e.g.,

structural, socialization, etc.) shape them.

Expressive ambition refers to the actual decision of an individual to run for a public

office (Fox and Lawless 2005). The same authors contend that much of the literature that has

generated broad contributions to the understanding of political ambition revolves around the

study of political and structural circumstances that directly affect expressive ambition (2005,

644). Progressive ambition, on the other hand, refers to the desire of a current office holder to

seek re-election or to run for higher office. This desire is either predicated on structural

incentives (see Black 1972; Maestas 2003; Keane and Merlo 2010) or individual personalities

that shape such desire (Rohde 1979 in Fox and Lawless 2005).

Both dynamic ambition and nascent ambition are original propositions of Richard L. Fox

and Jennifer L. Lawless (2011 and 2005, respectively). Dynamic ambition is an innovation over

what Fox and Lawless (2011) said has been the treatment of scholars of political ambition in

their researches for the past 60 years: that it is a trait that is relatively static. Contending that

thinking about political ambition as a trait that fluctuates has an intuitive appeal, Fox and

Lawless define dynamic ambition as the process by which an individual gains or loses political

ambition over time (2011, 445), affected by myriad factors [working] systematically to

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encourage and suppress [it] (2011, 444). These factors include, among others, changes in

political efficacy and changes in predictors of political engagement (2011, 446, 447).

Nascent ambition, on the other hand, is the initial inclination of an individual to consider

running for office, the embryonic or potential interest in office seeking that precedes the actual

decision to enter a specific political contest (2005, 643). To further elucidate this concept, Fox

and Lawless implicitly distinguishes nascent ambition from expressive ambition:

A distinct, yet vitally important phase of the development of political ambition occurs

well before the actual decision to enter a specific race ever transpires. If the notion of a

candidacy has never even crossed an individuals mind, then he/she never actually faces

a political opportunity structure In order to understand fully the decision dynamics

involved in moving from eligible potential candidate to actual office holder, it is

necessary to step back and assess nascent ambition (2005, 644, emphasis added).

Unlike expressive ambition or progressive ambition, which, according to Fox and

Lawless (2005, 2011) have tended to focus on either rationality of the individual, or the political

opportunity structures available to the individual as explanatory variables, nascent ambition

focuses on a plurality of factors to explain how it comes about (2011, 644-647). This same

consideration is reflected in a research framework presented in the last section of this paper.

Conceiving and Operationalizing Political Participation and Political Ambition

Political ambition, just like many other topics in political science, has been studied using

various theoretical approaches. Indeed, the just-discussed different types of political ambition

likely came to be conceptualized in those ways because of the differences in factors that play in

each of them, which in turn demand different approaches so they can be studied more

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appropriately (see Fox and Lawless 2005 for difference in approach in studying expressive

ambition and nascent ambition). There is a point in highlighting the important differences that

these approaches effect on the study of political ambition8 these theoretical approaches can

affect how researchers conceive of political ambition, and they themselves are implicated in the

way some of the researchers discussed below operationalized the concepts from these macro

approaches to create a micro theory that explains political ambition. But it should also be taken

well how the arguments and eventual results of the studies that used these different approaches

can help in gaining a holistic understanding of the factors that determine the emergence of

political ambition in individuals9.

The approaches will be presented in a chronological fashion, starting from Harold

Lasswell and proceeding finally to the contemporary political ambition project of Jennifer

Lawless and Richard Fox, highlighting how the concept of political ambition was appropriated in

different studies that used different theoretical approaches, and thus a presenting a kind an of

evolution of the concept of political ambition.

Before delving deeper, all of the materials surveyed below were empirical studies

conducted in the United States, with the exception of Harold Lasswells chapter on his book

Power and Personality. As such, it is important to bear in mind the context where the

phenomenon of political ambition happened, as it was studied and discussed.

8
Admittedly, not all of the studies included here directly studied political ambition per se (i.e., one was about
political participation in general and another looked into representation), but they are deemed as paramount to
generating a sufficient understanding of how political ambition can be potentially studied that is consistent and
conversant (see next footnote) with how political ambition was conceived by scholars who are more focused on
the topic. For example, Black mentioned how political socialization and psychoanalytic explanations of ambition are
insufficient, thus his study on political opportunity structures and structural incentives. Fox and Lawless study on
nascent political ambition harks back to different scholars work, including Blacks, to synthesize a plurality
model that shows the many facets of political ambition.
9
Some scholars, though, converse with previous works by saying that what they did in their study improves upon,
or at most, rebuffs what previous scholars have concluded in their investigations that used a different theoretical
approach.

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Looking at political ambition through a psychoanalytic lens

Harold Dwight Lasswell might be more famous for his work on political propaganda and

political communication, which set the trail for future work in communication theory (Holst

2011), than for his work on political ambition, so to speak. Nevertheless, he deems his analyses

in his works such as Power and Personality, which applies Freudian theory in the explanation of

political behavior, as pressing and necessary if one wants to survive in the political realm

(Holst 2011). More importantly, his work might be quite old, but it is acknowledged as the

groundwork of most, if not all, research on political ambition in the United States (Fox and

Lawless 2005).

With that said, Lasswells concept of political ambition revolves around the political

type, or the person who is inclined to politics. According to Lasswell, The political type is

characterized by an intense and ungratified craving for deference, someone who naturally

accentuate[s] to power (1948, 38). As a pioneering scholar on political ambition10, Lasswells

concept of the political type harks back to psychology, psychoanalysis, and theory of personality

through and through: the conception of the political type is that some personalities are power

seekers, searching out the power institutions of the society and devoting themselves to the

capture and use of government (1948, 20).

Interestingly, Lasswell highlights people who have power without wanting it those born

in high positions in society but relinquish it for some enterprise other than politics (e.g., love,

religion, scholarship) (1948, 20). By mentioning historical examples, especially heirs apparent or

even monarchs who forewent the throne to follow some other passion (e.g., Edward VIII of the

10
This term and its contemporary definition does not seem to appear on Power and Personality.

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United Kingdom), Lasswell highlights the fact that the desire for power does not come from an

individuals rationality, nor from the availability of political opportunity structures, but from his

or her personality. The political type then, is a person who artfully navigates his or her way

through the different stages of life and prefers11 to capture (and consciously search for) the

power opportunities versus other opportunities (1948, 21).

Lasswell also mentions the relationship between the political type and the contexts where

such type of individuals emerge. He notes that when power is highly valued in a culture,

individuals of the political type appropriate it according to the same measure (1948, 33). He also

notes that a persons social position at birth can affect a persons accentuation to power although

not definitively, for even those born in constrictive positions with respect to attaining power can

become all the more intensely devoted to the pursuit of it (1948, 36). Finally, he remarks from

historical examples that the wealthy tend to accentuate to power in times of social crises (1948,

37).

Harold Lasswells idea of the political type, although groundbreaking in political

ambition research, has not been without challenge. Indeed, the next approach directly challenged

Lasswells assumption.

Looking at political ambition through a rational-structural lens

Reviewing Gordon Blacks groundbreaking study on the political ambition of some 430

city councilmen from San Francisco Bay Area in 1972 might as well begin with the very last

statements of the journal article that discusses the study:

11
The keyword is prefer such preference is rooted from personality, not from external structures.

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[My] description of the development of ambition differs markedly from the view that

sees the politician as a driven man who decides his course early on and plans his life

accordingly. Perhaps there are such men, but we suspect they are a distinct minority. The

tides of politics are too great to permit men to chart an undeviating route through the

uncertain and troubled waters of political life (Black 1972, 144, emphasis added).

For a scholar in the vein of Lasswell who approaches the phenomenon of political

ambition from a psychoanalytic-personality perspective, these words sound intrepid.

Nevertheless, they provide a springboard from which to understand the study that Black

undertook, especially its context. Black believes that political ambition is at the heart of

American political lore, and that the American public is aware and is cautious of politicians

ambitions. But he wonders why political ambition has not evolved into a primary research

subject in the study of politics during his time. His study sought to fill that hole by conceiving

of a theory of political ambition based on career choices and the roles of structural incentives

(1972, 145).

For Black, people with political ambition attempt to behave in a rational manner in

selecting among alternative offices; that rather than being driven by excessive ambition, they

tend to develop ambition slowly as a result of their changing circumstances (1972, 145), which

he concedes as partial. This theory entails two important assumptions.

The first assumption is that people with political ambition are rational office-seekers

(1972, 145). Black however distanced his concept of rationality from that which is generally

accepted in economics. He explains that rational office-seekers, when confronted with a

decision, examine the choices they are confronted with, and that they will evaluate the choices in

terms of how likely they will succeed and how valuable they are for them. They also choose the

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alternative which will yield them the greatest return. Black is aware that rational office-seekers

are utility maximizers but not to the point of having perfect knowledge to guide their choices so

that they may choose incorrectly some time (1972, 146).

The second assumption is that structural factors (in Blacks study, the size of a city and

the competitiveness of a citys elections) systematically affect most individuals who seek public

office, that is, their impact is both pervasive and critical so that some men are led to pursue

public offices and some are led to avoid them. This is in stark contrast to the idiosyncratic

nature of other factors, such as an individuals previous public prominence or his need for

attention (1972, 146).

Blacks key research question is this: Does the structure of the political system in which

would-be politicians are recruited to run determine the type of people who emerge as candidates

(i.e., those who actually decide to run)? Blacks study answers the question in the affirmative,

but he raised two important points about the answer. First, the structure(s) of a political system

decide the types of candidates that eventually emerge, but only indirectly. These structures can

be seen as creating barriers to election that only some types of people overcome. Others relent

or choose less risky and costly directions (i.e., non-political careers). Second, the structure of

the political system also shape both the risks that politicians face and the investments they

need to make to capture political office (1972, 158), thus showing how the effect of the structure

is two-fold and influences beyond the emergence of the office-seeker to his actions in his

campaign.

Two examples of studies that used a rational-structural approach that is similar to Blacks

are Cherie Maestas, and Michael Keane and Antonio Merlos. Maestas (2003) argues for the

rationality of ambitious politicians by testing how they use structures such as public opinion

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monitoring to gauge their prospects for higher offices. Her research showed that legislators who

are progressively ambitious spend more time monitoring public opinion than legislators who are

either non- or statically ambitious (2003, 39). Keane and Merlo (2010), on the other hand, uses

the rational-structural approach in making the case for how policies such as those concerned with

congressional wage affect the decisions of members of the US Congress to either run for

reelection, for the higher office, or leave. They found out that these kinds of policies do affect

legislators decisions, though in different capacities skilled politicians, Democrats, and those

who were first elected when they were young would leave Congress if their salaries are reduced,

while politicians with the most accomplishment would not care and stay (2010, 186).

Going back to Black, it should be noted that his study is not just a reaction to approaching

political ambition from a psychoanalytic perspective. Amongst his conclusions is that studying

political ambition from a rational-structural standpoint can generally benefit the research

enterprise itself, because, among other reasons, his findings suggest that the more immediate

structural forces around an individual play more powerful roles in shaping that individuals

political ambition, than say, his or her political socialization during childhood or early

adolescence (1972, 158).

Looking at political ambition through a political culture lens

The span of Paul Beck, M. Kent Jennings, et al.s study on political participation from a

political socialization perspective is a feat on its own it spanned three generations from the first

batch of respondents in 1965, their parents, and eventually, the offspring of the 1965 respondents

(a fourth batch/generation can be considered if the spouses of the 1965 respondents were to be

included) (Jennings 2000). This longitudinal study has borne much fruit in terms of researches

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produced, and one of these researches is reviewed in this paper for the approach to political

participation that it used.

It should be noted that while political ambition is not the specific topic of Beck and

Jennings journal article (1982), their study is included here for review because first, it is

implicitly reactive against researches that do not seriously consider or altogether disregards

political socialization as viable explanation for adult political participation behavior, including

political ambition (e.g., Blacks study reviewed above). Second, Beck and Jennings work

substantially influences more recent scholars on political participation and political ambition (see

Burns, Schlozman, and Verba 2000 and Fox and Lawless 2005).

With that said, Beck and Jennings identified and tested in their study four pathways of

political socialization that influences and/or leads to adult participation. They used the

longitudinal method to analyze eight years worth of data (1965-1973). They clarify that these

pathways are not the only means of socialization, but a careful examination of them should

suffice to show how the political socialization process contributes to adult political attitudes

and behavior (1982, 96).

The first of the four pathways is called the Intergenerational Socioeconomic Status

model. This model posits that parents SES determines the SES of their children (which in turn

shape their political attitudes and behaviors), through class-specific child rearing practices and

placement of [children] in a social milieu that is conducive to the development of civic

attitudes (1982, 97), among others.

The second pathway is called the Parent Civic Orientations model, which posits a purely

political explanation as to why adults participate in politics, and how their parents have an

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influence on this. That is, the political and civic orientations of parents leave a lasting

impression on their children, subsequently influencing the childrens participation as young

adults (1982, 98). Similarly, the third pathway, which is called the Parent Political Participation

model, draws on such strong influence of parents on their children that their children follow their

footsteps when it comes to the political activities that they partake into (such as activism) (1982,

98-99).

The last pathway is generally considered unrelated to the first three. Called the School

Activities model, it posits that participation in extracurricular activities and organizations at

school has a strong impact on young adult political participation, even exceeding the effects of

all preceding three combined (1982, 102).

One of the major works on this vein is by Burns, Schlozman, and Verba (2001) on the

private roots of public action. They investigated how socialization in relatively private settings

such as the home and the church, as well as the school, induce gender differences in political

behavior. They discovered for example that experiences at school, more than the level of

educational attainment itself, has a meaningful effect on future political participation (2001, 147-

149). They also found out that even the fact that the US political environment has been more

open to women (i.e., women are more present in prominent government positions except the

presidency), has led other women to get more psychologically involved in politics. They

attribute this to socialization by the media who reports heavily on women candidates (2001,

351).

Returning to Beck and Jennings, one of the major takeaways of their work is that any

explanation of adult political behavior, including political ambition, will be ultimately

unsuccessful or incomplete without taking into consideration the noncontemporaneous forces,

29
specifically an individuals political socialization process from the previous stages of his or her

life. As an approach to studying political ambition, political socialization, or more broadly,

political culture, reveals other factors that are contingent to the shaping of a persons political

behavior, than say, more parsimonious approaches such as rational choice, though, as it will be

seen below, it is not impossible to synthesize the two to create a more comprehensive model.

Looking at political ambition through a normative lens

The normative lens is vital because it helps scholars make sense of the practical and real-

world application of the products of research endeavors. But in the case of political ambition, a

normative concern can stand as an explanation (not just a ground for prescription) as to why

people seek public office. Jane Mansbridges article (1999), though more prescriptive than

explanatory, can be very helpful in providing an approach or research framework to scholars that

seek to explain political ambition in terms of desire for representation.

Mansbrige painstakingly builds the argument that descriptive representation is not

always necessary, but rather the best approach to descriptive representation is contextual (1999,

654), that is, when benefits of such kind of representation outweigh the cost. Especially on her

mind is the question of whether women and blacks should be represented by women and blacks,

respectively. Descriptive representation simply means that a representative is descriptively the

same as his or her constituents. Descriptive similarity entails similarity of race, gender, religion,

occupation, etc., so that a black should represent blacks, and a farmer should represent farmers

(1999, 629).

Mansbridge tries to elucidate her concern about descriptive representation of women and

blacks by tackling the question of selective representation which groups should be represented,

30
why and how many from each (1999, 633), to bring out the concepts of deliberative and

aggregative functions of democracy (1999, 634). The deliberative function of democracy aims

at understanding which policies are good both for the whole polity and the representatives

constituents (1999, 634). The aggregative function of democracy on the other hand aims at

producing some form of relatively legitimate decision, taking into account fundamentally

conflicting interests among various groups (1999, 634). She synergizes these concepts to provide

an answer to the descriptive representation question, namely, that descriptive representation

gives communicative and informational advantages to representatives especially for issues that

are close to their and their constituents hearts (1999, 635-636), and that it gives the political

process more legitimacy because minorities are more willing to speak their positions when

represented by their own (1999, 636).

Mansbridge recognizes how descriptive representation can produce enormous benefit by

virtue of deliberative democracy, all the while acknowledging that there are also harms that if not

properly mitigated, might be detrimental to the participation and representation of other groups

in the political process. She concludes by saying that, many contexts considered, descriptive

representation has benefits that extend throughout the political system (1999, 654).

Looking at political ambition through a plurality lens

Richard Fox and Jennifer Lawless work on political ambition, which can be considered

as the most lucid and most comprehensive contemporary corpus, spans different subareas of

interest from gender differences with regards to political ambition, to the fluctuation of ambition

in individuals, to the political ambition of the youth in the United States. The specific article

reviewed in this section of the paper is about Fox and Lawless study on nascent political

ambition (2005), a concept that has already been defined above.

31
This particular study is important because it attempts to include all of the most important

factors involved in the approaches (except for one) above into a single model that attempts to

explain the emergence of political ambition in an individual. They derive six expectations that

foment ambition in individuals in its critical and intricate initial stages, and which they

anticipate to separately affect individuals likelihood of running for office in the future (2005,

644). First is called the strategic consideration expectation, which centers on individuals self-

perceptions about their fitness for political office (2005, 645).

The second is called the ideological and political interest expectation, which refers to

individuals ideological or political drive, especially regarding certain issues (2005, 646). The

third is called politicized upbringing expectation, which refers to the political socialization of

individuals in their respective families (2005, 646), and is borrowed from the political

socialization approach. The fourth is called the minority status expectation, which refers to the

effect, albeit negatively, of sexual and/or racial minority status to political ambition (2005, 646).

This quite related to the normative-representation approach above that was put forward by

Mansbridge.

The fifth is called the competitive traits expectation, which centers on the notion that

those who ultimately seek public office are naturally competitive, ambitious and driven (2005,

646), and recalls Lasswells idea of the political type. The last is called the stage in life

expectation, which suggests that age and marital status can also influence an individuals desire

to run for office (647).

It should be noted that early on in explaining the essence of nascent ambition, Fox and

Lawless explicitly differentiates it from expressive ambition which focused on the political and

structural circumstances involved in running for a particular office that determines whether

32
individuals will choose to enter specific political contests (2005, 644). But if the idea of

running for public office never crossed the mind of a person, he or she is not faced by political

and structural circumstances (i.e., political opportunity structures) that will help him or

determine which race to enter. Nascent ambition is exactly concerned with the first moment that

idea crosses the mind of an individual, and it can be surmised that a plurality of factors is

invoked to help explain it (rather than just personality, political socialization or normativity)

precisely because of this nature of the phenomenon.

Methodologies and Research Designs Used in Selected Political Participation and Political

Ambition Researches

This section is devoted to a lengthier discussion of the research designs and

methodologies of some researches on political participation and political ambition. Two major

(bodies of) works will be reviewed in this section. Burns, Schlozman, and Verbas book will be

discussed at length first, as they have reflected much upon the way [their] methods grow out of

[their] theoretical understanding (2001, 39) of their research problem. There is much to be had

in the richness of their discussion of their methods, which is also a presentation of an overall

strategy for studyingpolitical activity (2001, 39), something that cannot be frequently found

in the shorter journal article format. The corpus of Fox and Lawless will also be discussed, as it

is interesting to note how they implemented varying research methods from study to study.

These researches are, in terms of their methodology and research design, considered

representative of many other studies on political participation and political ambition.

Burns, Schlozman and Verbas The Private Roots of Public Action

Like much of Fox and Lawless work, Burns, Schlozman and Verbas book centers on

their study on the gender differences on political participation at large. This is reviewed at length

33
even though it does not deal directly with political ambition, because, as explained in the

preceding sections, the researcher would like to study political ambition as a form of political

participation.

In the chapter dedicated to explaining the methods they used for their study12, the authors

explained at the outset that their approach is rooted in quantitative techniques used in social

science, as well as from concepts of feminist theorists (2001, 39). For example, they borrowed

from feminist theory the idea that any study on gender differences between men and women

must take into consideration the heterogeneity within these groups. This concept guided them to

use separate regression analyses for men and women in their study (2001, 39). Ultimately, their

use of a variety of methods is guided by their desire to measure the political participation, in all

its forms, of a large number of citizens; to compare women and men, while paying attention to

the diversity within each group; and to generalize to the population as a whole on the basis of

observations of a nite number of individuals (2001, 40).

To this end they used a mix of methods, but relying more heavily on the quantitative

types. Specifically, they used sample surveys as the foundation of their research. For Burns,

Schlozman, and Verba, sample surveys are predicated on the democratic principle of equal

voice (2001, 41) and they permit researchers to study individuals and groups who might not

otherwise have a voice (2001, 44), making them particularly appropriate in studying the subject

of gender gap in political participation (2001, 43). Sample surveys also allow researchers to

12
Dubbed The Citizen Participation Study, this multi-wave major survey of civic engagement in a variety of
domains (Burns, Schlozman, and Verba 2001, 54-56) was conducted in four waves from 1989 to 1990, starting
from a large nationwide sample of 15,000 which served as a baseline for several proceeding samples depending on
the aspect of the research being investigated.

34
eliminate bias and draw important generalizations on the patterns of behavior and belief that are

not directly observable, especially when drawn from a large sample (2001, 42).

This is not to say that sample surveys are the be-all, end-all of all social scientific inquiry.

They also acknowledged the fact that surveys cannot capture the rich texture of individuals

thinking and experiences (2001, 44-45), and thus also conducted less superficial but also less

systematic evidences from open-ended interviews, participant observation, historical analysis,

popular culture, etc. through the use of qualitative methods (2001, 45). This is evidenced by

opening anecdotes in each chapter of their book that reveal more in-depth details about the

aspect of the phenomenon being studied. In using a plurality of methods, Burns, Schlozman, and

Verba believes that they are not simple being methodological pluralists, but that their desire to

use a set of techniques is informed by their topic of gender and politics (2001, 45).

Aside from sample surveys, the authors also used multivariate analysis, acknowledging

that research on political participation has always involved looking into multiple factors to help

in explanations (2001, 45-46). Specifically, Burns, Schlozman, and Verba used multiple

regression to help understand better how factors influence the outcome being studied how

they affect individually and jointly (2001, 46). A key component of regression analysis is the

regression coefficient, which helps researchers see how much influence an individual factor

exerts on the outcome if all other factors remain controlled or constant (2001, 46).

But the authors did not use multivariate analysis as it has been standardly used in

previous social science inquiry. An important aspect of their use of the method is to implement

separate regression equations, which is rooted in the fact that the social processes considered as

variables in studies on gender do not have the same effect on men and women: Our common-

sense understandingsand theorizing about gendersuggest that women and men often have

35
different experiences within social institutions (2001, 49). This defied previous convention that

used only one regression equation for the whole sample, regardless of gender (2001, 48).

Burns, Schlozman, and Verba further elaborated their method by using multiple

regression analysis for each institution analyzed in relation to their effects on political

participation. They broke down their analysis of institutions by separately analyzing factors that

led to the selection of the samples into the institutions and how they are treated by these

institutions when they get in (2001, 51-52). Finally, they linked individual regression analyses of

institutions to each other to be able to weigh their effect on political participation individually

and jointly. In the process, they were also able to observe how these institutions affect not just

political participation itself but other institutions as well (2001, 53).

All-in-all, two key takeaways could be emphasized from the work of these three scholars.

First, attention to methodological detail can bear much fruit in terms of what new or insightful

knowledge can be had from a research enterprise. Second, methodological pluralism should be

informed not by the belief that more is better, but by its appropriateness to the research problem.

In Burns, Schlozman, and Verbas case, their use of quantitative, and to some extent, qualitative

methods has provided a more lucid (but at the same time empirical) account of the phenomenon.

Fox and Lawless corpus on political ambition

Fox and Lawless corpus is remarkable in two ways. First, the first study was conceived

to look into the gender differences in the decision to run for public office. But because of the

richness of the data they were able to gather, their work grew to include other aspects of political

ambition (e.g., nascent ambition), and how major social structures such as family and political

opportunity structures affect political ambition across genders. Second, the study has become

36
longitudinal the first panel study in 2001 has been followed up in 2008, revealing insights on

how political ambition can change through time. This panel study bore much fruit in terms of

journal articles published by the authors, four of which are surveyed here. Another study by Fox

and Lawless included in this survey but not based on the same data set as above, looks into

gender differences in political ambition among high school students in the U.S. Yet another

survey looks into the effect of traditional family structures and sex-roles in womens political

ambition. These are also surveyed together with the first four.

The empirical basis for most of Fox and Lawless work together on political ambition is

called The Political Ambition Study, whose first wave was conducted in 2001. They sought to

conduct a national survey of citizens about their decision (or indecision) to run for office, and the

gender differences that affect such decision. Because their research entails looking into gender

differences, the researchers prevented sampling problems such as reputational bias (in which

the selection of respondents is skewed towards those who are already holding public offices or

skewed against gender, race, or class, 2004, 266) by developing what they called the eligibility

pool, which is a sex-stratified national sample of citizens who have occupations that usually

precedes a career in politics (based on data from the U.S. Congress). This pool is a national

sample of 6,800 men and women who were each sent a four-page survey, with an eventual final

sample size of 3,765 (those who mailed back responses) (2004, 266). The second wave of The

Citizen Political Ambition Study was conducted in 2008, with 2,036 completely responding to

the second survey of the study (2008, 179).

The main research problem that the authors sought to answer in the first article (2004)

that is based on The Citizen Political Ambition Study was about the gender differences in the

manner in which women and men emerge as candidates for the first public office they seek

37
(2004, 266). Specifically, they sought to understand who considers running and who actually

runs from four professions that usually precedes an elective career law, business, education,

and politics (i.e., public policy and activism). To this end, Fox and Lawless used quantitative

methods to compute probability and interaction of multiple variables, such as mean, standard

deviation, and logistic regression (2004, 276).

The succeeding articles (2005, 2010 and 2011) which looked into the initial desire to run

for public office, the role of gender in the political recruitment process (nascent ambition), and

the changes in the desire to run for public office (dynamic ambition) respectively also used the

same quantitative methods to analyze the data they gathered from the panel study (the second

wave of which was already complete by 2008). Most notable however is the 2011 study on

dynamic ambition, which explained at length the multivariate analysis that it used (2011, 451).

It should be noted that much of the findings from the two waves of The Citizen Political

Ambition Study by Fox and Lawless are discussed in their 2010 book It Still Takes a Candidate:

Why Women Dont Run for Office. While the journal articles give the impression that what the

researchers used in their study were solely quantitative methods, it is revealed in their book that

part of their data collection process was in-depth interviews with a representative sample of 200

from their respondents (2010, 15). In essence, Fox and Lawless study mirrors that of Burns,

Schlozman, and Verbas in that they used quantitative methods extensively to ground their

analysis, and then add nuancing and augmenting data using qualitative methods.

Other notable researches

Also worth noting in this section are studies by Maisel and Stone (1997) and Greenlee,

Holman and VanSickle-Ward (2014).

38
Maisel and Stone explored the attributes of strong contenders against incumbent U.S.

representatives who decided not to pursue a candidacy to shed light on the challenger side of the

incumbency problem (1997, 82).. Unlike most research on political ambition that sought to

explain, Maisel and Stones research is exploratory in nature (1997, 81). This has some

implications on the research design, one of which is mentioned below.

The researchers sampled according to convenience because of limited resources, although

the researchers also believe that a random sample is not necessary as their research is exploratory

(1997, 82). To find key political informants that would serve as respondent, they attended the

Republican and Democratic National Conventions in 1992, purposively choosing states from

which delegates would be sampled. These delegates were asked to name five candidates from

their corresponding district who they thought would be good candidates for Congress, whether

these people actually ran or not (1997, 81).

Greenlee, Holman, and VanSickle-Wards study on the other hand is worth mentioning

because they used content analysis in their research which centers on the effects of classroom

exercises on closing the gender gap on political ambition (2014, 48). They notably used Lawless

and Foxs book It Still Takes a Candidate (2010) as classroom material from which to elucidate

responses from students of a woman studies course.

A total of 72 students participated in the study. These students came from two classes

one lecture type and the other seminar type (2014, 51). This setup, according to the researchers,

yielded an advantage in terms of the number of women and men sampled for the study, although

admittedly, the sample was self-selected (2014, 51).

39
For the content analysis proper, the researchers fielded different writing activities (e.g.,

reflection papers) throughout the semester to gauge the responses of the students to what they are

learning on political ambition and the gender gap that hinders women from participating better

(2014, 52). The researchers then coded the data into appropriate categories and performed

statistical methods to analyze it (2014, 53).

The last two studies reviewed showed how the same phenomenon can be studied using

other research designs. This proves that the research design does depend on the topic in question,

but all the more so on the specific research problem that seeks to be answered. This paper now

shifts its focus to discussing relevant materials on the concepts discussed above in the context of

the Philippines.

Political Participation and Political Ambition: Operationalizing in the Philippine Context

The context

Before embarking on a review of literature on the political participation of the youth in

the Philippines, the context where such participation happens should be first described. It should

be noted that the normative concerns in scholars work on the Philippines figure prominently in

their descriptions.

Scholars are almost in agreement in saying that the democracy in the Philippines is not

how it should be (they just use a variety of terms such as unconsolidated, immature,

unauthentic, unproductive, and transitional; see Yu 2005; Sherill 2006; Dressel 2011 for

examples of this kind of argument). Dressel considers the Philippines puzzle for scholars of

democracy because nowhere else in the region have democratic ambitions as expressed in the

40
constitution and in public discourse diverged so drastically from day-to-day activities (2011,

541). This is somewhat echoed by Sherrill, when he argued that the democratic procedures

introduced a century ago has not progressed into a fully functioning, sustained democracy

(2006, 227). Further elaborating these pronouncements are the following brief accounts of

democracy in terms of elections, rule of law, and political participation.

In terms of elections, they describe the Philippines as having multiple parties that can

compete for power in arguably free and fair elections, but extensive protection for individual

and group rights, pluralism in civil society, civilian control over the military, accountability of

officeholders, and an independent and impartial judiciary that characterizes a true liberal

democracy are still not present (Yu 2005), making the argument of a healthy democracy from a

purely elections standpoint moot. Sherrill (2006, 219-222) adds how elections invite widespread

fraud and cheating, how a weak party system is further trivialized by politicians who jump from

one party to another when election season comes, and how traditional elites and political

dynasties continue to be the power brokers in a system that largely excludes most of the populace

(Dressel 2011) stand as hallmarks of the electoral democracy in the country.

In terms of the rule of law, Sherrill points out that notwithstanding the fact that there is a

clearly established constitutional and legal system, violations using extralegal and cultural

justifications are still being committed (2006, 223-224). For Dressel, rule of law is found

wanting the poor remain disadvantaged when it comes to accessing justice (2011, 531), there is

a growing politicization of the Supreme Court, impunity is high for human rights violators, and

corruption diminishes the ability of the justice system to deliver well (2011, 532). Dressel goes

on further to describe the rights system in the country as comprehensive and similar to that of

the United States (2011, 537), but laments that the rise in cases of government harassment of

41
journalists, prisoner abuse, election-related violence, and cases of the governments weak

support for indigenous peoples rights (2011, 538) proves theres more to be had.

Lastly, the condition of the democracy in the Philippines can also be elaborated in terms

of political participation, which is a central concern of the paper. Ruland, for example describes

elections in Iloilo City as unprecedentedly competitive, although this is marred by election-

related violence (1990, 464). On the other hand, Yu points out how political participation in the

Philippines has been traditionally limited to the wealthy and the privileged, leaving the masses

outside the circle of the policy-making process (2005, 219). He contends that through the 1987

Constitution political participation was bolstered especially on two fronts local government

and the legislature with the introduction of elections both for local officials and representatives.

He further mentions the regulation of terms of elected officials, as well as the new multiparty

system, as evidential of the reforms in the political system of the country (2005, 221-222). He

argues that there is no longer a single dominant force in the Philippines but there are still a few

wealthy and influential families (2005, 222). Dressel echoes the same sentiment, but separately

noting that avenues for true competition as well as the influencing of decisions are largely

hindered by system-wide exclusion, the weak party system and continued dominance of the elite

(2011, 535). He also notes that minority interests are not represented well because of a deficient

party-list system, as well as the limited opportunity to pursue candidacies because of poor

campaign finance laws and disparities in wealth (2011, 535-536).

What has been presented above is but a limited description of the political situation in the

Philippines. Although brief, they can substantially inform any inferences about the type of

political participation and political ambition that can emerge in Filipino youth, given such

contexts. This insight is particularly illustrated by Velascos study on political participation

42
(2007b) of Akbayan, and how this group faced and adapted to the challenges that the deficiencies

of the political system presented. Essentially, Akbayan, according to Velasco, is fighting an

uphill battle because of the tension created by the simultaneous pursuit of milking the

dysfunctional system to make life a bit more livable to use the system for the benefit of the

marginalized, not the other way around and building more autonomous movements for future

change (2007b, 118). Velasco underscores the fact that the laudable features in the democratic

structure, which, in theory, allows for greater participation of marginalized groups such as

Akbayan in the mainstream political arena, are negated by the personalistic and persisting

patron-clientelistic politics that make elections no more than popularity contests (2007, 119). But

the baby steps taken, such as collaborating with traditional politicians, and more visibility in

terms of platforms and visions for social change, show how it is possible to participate in the

political arena even with perceived obstructions.

Youth and Politics in the Philippines

What has been discussed so far on the political situation in the Philippines are central to

the findings of much of the literature about youth and politics in the Philippines. With that, many

of the studies on the subject do involve the phenomenon of political socialization and

participation, which are central to this paper.

Socialization can refer either to: the formation of an individual into a sociocultural

personality through the shaping of psychological and similar features that enable him or her to

understand his or her environment (primary socialization); the imparting of social values, norms,

and abilities for the accomplishment of social existence from outside the family (secondary

socialization); or the lifelong process of social experience (Kissler 2011). According to the

same author, all processes of socialization can be considered political, though for the purpose of

43
this paper the narrower definition of political socialization, the entirety of all learning processes

that form a person into a political being (citizen) (Kissler 2011), is what should be borne in

mind.

Although political socialization figures prominently on the literature on youth and

politics in the Philippines, these are relatively old, pre-1990 studies. They nevertheless provide

important insights on the effects of socialization in the political participation of individuals and

the political system itself.

Justin Greens (1977) study is illustrative of the latter. A work on the behavioralist vein,

his study asked why there is stability in the highly stratified society of the Philippines by looking

into the political socialization of children from both high and low socioeconomic groups, and

their consequent political attitudes. Green found out significant differences in the political

attitudes of Filipino children belonging to the opposing spectrums of society; these differences

notwithstanding, the attitudes of these children towards their government, presumably socialized

into them by their socioeconomic environment, indeed lent stability to the society. For example,

Green found out that children from the lower classes displayed lower cynicism towards the

political system than those from the upper classes (1977, 676):

The data suggest that in Manila, lower-class children learn a different set of political

attitudes and orientations than children of high social status. If the attitudes, orientations,

and behaviors they learn as children persist into adulthood, then as adults they are better

prepared to be observers rather than meaningful participants in the political arena (1977,

678).

44
Greens findings has implications in the way of thinking about political ambition in the

Philippines. For example, his conclusions can mean that members of the lower classes are less

inclined to have a desire to run for public office, precisely because of their socioeconomic

socialization.

Moreover, Montiel and Chongbian (1991) presents a review of the literature on political

psychology that has been conducted from the 1960s to the 1980s. This review is important

because it shows how most of the research on political psychology has focused on the external

political events and their effects on the political behavior of children and adolescents. For

example, during the middle and later martial law period, many researchers looked into the

situation of the children of political detainees, the therapy of detainees and torture victims, and

social movements (1991, 765-767). On the other hand, researches after the martial law period

and the EDSA Revolution studied how these events affected the political attitudes of young adult

leaders (1991, 768).

With regard to political participation, there are no studies yet that explicitly explored the

political ambition of the Filipino youth, although there are several that focused on the

Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), the youth arm of the barangay government. The political

participation studies explored the youths political engagement in formal, informal and non-

governmental arenas, the investigation of the ultimate form of political participation being

particularly absent.

Velascos (2007a) study presents a summary of the state of the youths political

participation in the Philippines, and the condition of the formal institutional provisions that help

facilitate it. At the onset of trying to define the word youth, Velasco met disparate operational

definitions for the word youth among different government agencies (2007a, 81). This causes

45
undue administrative overlap and compartmentalization of state intervention for the youth

(2007a, 82).

The central question of Velascos study is, Are the youth rejecting traditional politics?

The answer in short is, not so much. First, she notes that while the youth are aware of the social

problems in the country, they are not involved in transforming such awareness into concrete

government programs. This comes at the heels of a commissioned study in 2002 revealing that a

third of the youth feel they will not make a difference when they participate (2007a, 86).

She goes on to discuss the constitutional and legal provisions for youth participation in

the form of the SK. She raises three points regarding the SK: that the general perception of

people is that it is only good for staging beauty contests and basketball tournaments; that the

SK is just a training ground for future trapos; and that the SK, together with the barangay

officials, are just part of the well-oiled election machinery of city or municipal and legislative

district incumbents (2007a, 89-90).

Third, she observes that, where they are qualified to hold elective positions (other than

the SK), the youth are a minority. In the 13th Congress, only 6% of the 236 representatives are

below 35 (2007a, 91). This becomes less encouraging due to the fact that most of these young

legislators come from elite families or political dynasties, the same way that appointees to the

leadership of youth agencies, for example, the National Youth Commission, also hail from

known political families (Rejecting, 105-106).

Lastly, she observes that although several major political parties indeed have youth arms,

they function as nothing more than machineries for vote generation (Rejecting, 101). She laments

that although legal provisions stipulate very low age requirements for several local offices, the

46
prevailing culture is not designed to encourage electoral participation from the youth

(Rejecting, 102). More than individual political will, the greatest obstacle to meaningful youth

participation in politics is a pervasive political culture of personality and money politics

(Rejecting, 105).

The other two studies on Filipino youth political participation below discuss political

participation in conjunction with the strategic engagement of the youth through information and

communication technologies, and the overall effectiveness of legally-mandated government

institutions for the youth.

Clarissa David (2013) frames political participation as engagement in her work on the

youths use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). She argues that the political

engagement of young activists in the country has gained critical mass, and that ICTs have

contributed to amplifying this engagement. David contends that young activists strategically

use ICTs such as social networking sites to gather support for their causes and to gain the

attention of traditional media and politicians (2013, 322). This is because the youth believe that

expressing opinions online is highly valuable and politically consequential (David 2013).

Indeed, David found out that ICT-based engagement can lead the youth to other forms of civic

and political participation (2013, 334), and ICT tools have given the youth a way to send

messages to political elites, which in turn encouraged their political interest (2013, 335).

In 2007, the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the Department of the

Interior and Local Government commissioned a study to investigate the effectiveness of, the

perceptions on, and recommendations for improvement of the Sangguniang Kabataan. It

47
affirmed the belief that it fosters youth political participation, although for the past ten years13, its

performance was seen as generally weak. This means weakness in coming up with viable

legislations, promoting the development of the youth, and maintaining democratic relationships

with constituents even after elections (2007, 14). To combat these weaknesses, as well as

negative perceptions of the SK, the study recommended giving the youth guaranteed seats in

local governments and sufficient budgets for them to become a true venue for youth

participation in governance (2007, 15).

Synthesis: Research Gap and Potential Research Frameworks

This paper has so far discussed several topics and illustrative empirical examples for

each: political participation, political participation of the youth in the Philippines and abroad, and

most importantly, political ambition. This concluding subsection deals with stating potential

research gaps on political ambition, and brief explanations of frameworks that can be used to

explore such research gap.

The gap that can be explored involves the phenomenon of political ambition in the youth

in the Philippines, specifically nascent political ambition. It should be reiterated that there are no

studies that have explored that phenomenon before which, anecdotally speaking, is very evident

in many young Filipinos. Even the studies that delved into the political participation of the youth

in the Philippines only studied lower forms of participation such as activism.

The following frameworks can be used to explore such gap: a plurality-complexity

framework, and a normative-democratic framework.

13
Counting from the time the study was published

48
The plurality-complexity framework is modeled after Fox and Lawless nascent political

ambition study, which sought to explain the emergence of ambition in individuals from six

expectations (i.e., factors) that they derived and synthesized from existing literature. But unlike

Fox and Lawless study, which solely derived from existing literature to come up with potential

explanatory variables, this framework seeks to use the case study method in an exploratory

research design to help identify other potential variables (i.e., religion and media) that has not

been comprehensively explored as strong factors in creating political ambition in individuals.

Because of the presumed uniqueness of the Philippine political setting, these factors will emerge,

and even previously determined factors can emerge differently from the way they emerged in US

studies. By using the case study method, it is hoped that some substantial hypotheses about

political ambition of the youth in the Philippines can be generated, which will open up future

research to testing these hypotheses in larger-N samples (Gerring 2011) that will in turn generate

an understanding of the Filipino youths political attitudes as well as their inclination to

participate in the political processes. The key empirical research question that can be studied

through this framework, and is indeed what I problematize in this research, is What are the

sociopolitical factors that form a desire in young Filipinos (aged 15-30) to run for and/or hold

elective office in the future (near or otherwise)?

The second framework, which is called normative-democratic framework, stems from a

concern about the legitimacy and survival of a political regime that is believed to be hinging

upon the youth and their political behavior (see Political participation of the youth subsection

of this literature review for a sampling of studies). In the context of the Philippines, political

ambition in this framework can be explored by asking research questions on how the youth feel

about the democratic situation in the country and whether they see themselves as participating in

49
the political process as elected officials in the future in light of this situation. A normative

question in the vein of Mansbridge (1999) can also be asked are the interests of the youth

adequately represented in the government? If not, does that situation inspire or foment political

ambition in the youth? Depending on the question, this framework can use a variety of methods,

from survey research to case studies. An empirical question that can be explored using this

framework is What is the relationship between the desire of young Filipinos to run for public

office, or the lack thereof, and the quality of the countrys democracy in terms of venues for

political participation afforded to citizens?

50
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