Political Party Switching: It's More Fun in the Philippines

Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Working Paper No. 14-019

38 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2014 Last revised: 9 Sep 2014

See all articles by Ronald U. Mendoza

Ronald U. Mendoza

Ateneo De Manila University - Ateneo School of Government

Jan Fredrick Cruz

Joint Ateneo Institute for Mindanao Economics; Ateneo de Manila University - Department of Economics

David Barua Yap II

Asian Institute of Management - Policy Center

Date Written: September 23, 2014

Abstract

Excessive party switching potentially weakens accountability and ideological coherence based on which party-based democracies operate. This study empirically analyzes party switching in the Philippine House of Representations, touching on issues at the macro-level (e.g. the legislative model) to the micro-level (e.g. regional socio-economic characteristics), from the institutional (e.g. the entrenched political dynasties) to the agency-oriented (e.g. voters’ perception). The initial analysis in this paper points to some of the possible factors affecting a legislator’s decision to change official party affiliation, including voters' perceptions (which often condone party switching) and timing (which suggests higher party switching during mid-term election years to maximize access to State resources). To the best of these authors' knowledge, this is among the first empirical studies of party switching patterns of members of the Philippine House of Representatives.

Keywords: party switching, political parties, political platforms

JEL Classification: D70, J45, N41, N42

Suggested Citation

Mendoza, Ronald U. and Cruz, Jan Fredrick and Yap II, David Barua, Political Party Switching: It's More Fun in the Philippines (September 23, 2014). Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Working Paper No. 14-019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2492913 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2492913

Ronald U. Mendoza (Contact Author)

Ateneo De Manila University - Ateneo School of Government ( email )

Katipunan Road
Loyola Heights
Quezon City, 1108
Philippines

Jan Fredrick Cruz

Joint Ateneo Institute for Mindanao Economics ( email )

E. Jacinto St.,
Roxas St.,
Davao City, Davao 8016
Philippines

Ateneo de Manila University - Department of Economics ( email )

Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights
Quezon City, 1108
Philippines

David Barua Yap II

Asian Institute of Management - Policy Center ( email )

Eugenio Lopez Foundation Bldg
Joseph McMicking Campus, 123 Paseo de Roxas
Makati City
Philippines

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