ABSTRACT
Located in the heart of Southeast Asia, the Philippines comprises more than 7,000 islands, stretching across 300,000 km2, with a population of more than 100 million people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$272 billion in 2015. The unitary state consists of about 1,000 inhabited islands varying in size, culture, language and resource base, where “strong provincial and regional identities co-exist with the national identity” (Yilmaz and Venugopal 2013, pp. 2-3), making local politics highly significant. The country is comprised of the three major regions of Luzon in the north, the central Visayas, and Mindanao in the south. The country “stands at the crossroads of the developed western world and the Orient” (IGES 2006, p. 9) with indigenous, Spanish and US influences (Pilny 2008, p. 261). Due to its historical background and strong ties to the United States, the Philippines’ government and population show a strong belief in the Western way of development (David 2004). The Philippines’ modern political system is closely related to its historical development (Croissant 2015). The arrival of the Spanish in 1521 initiated a centuries-long colonial rule of the archipelago, laying the ground for a small, but powerful, elite that still dominates political, social and economic life. The dominance of a few influential families and clans, clientelism and patronage, and high levels of corruption as well as the weakness of the democratic system can be traced back to a long history of elitist rule. At the same time, democratic institutions do exist – together with regular elections, a system of checks and balances, and constitutional rights. US colonial rule between 1902 and 1946 resulted in a political system similar to that of the United States, but with massive deficiencies concerning issues of political competition, representativeness and problem-solving capacity. The Philippine people overthrew their last authoritarian leader, Ferdinand Marcos, in 1986, but ineffective governance structures and the dominance of the elite still exclude especially the poor majority of the country from economic progress and human development. This also affects access to sufficient, affordable and modern forms of energy. An increase in energy demand of almost 5 percent annually, a relatively high share of renewables in the electricity mix, a highly decentralized political system
after experiencing an authoritarian regime under former president Ferdinand Marcos (1972-1986), and an active development cooperation landscape in the field of renewables make the Philippines a highly significant case for investigating the link between the country’s governance structures, renewable energy development and development assistance.
