The Political Dimension in the Agrarian Question: Strategies of Resilience and Political Entrepreneurship of Agrarian Elite Families in a Philippine Province

• Published in: Rural sociology Vol. 64; no. 4; pp. 667 - 692
• Main Author: Angeles, Leonora C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.1999; Rural Sociological Society; Rural Sociological Society, etc
• Subjects: Agrarian reform; Agrarian Societies; Agriculture; Cooptation; Elite; Elites; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Factors; Family; Government and politics; Kinship Networks; Land tenure; Legislation; Mindanao island (Philippines); Oligarchy; Philippines; Political aspects; Political Elites; Political participation; Political Power; Political Violence; Politics; Power; Privilege; Resilience; Rural and urban sociology; Rural sociology; Sociology; Strategies; Philippines; Rural Development; Land Reform; Restructuration; Diversification; Election; Patronage; Industrialization; Oligarchy; Political elite; Agricultural Policy; Agriculture; Development policy; Political party
• ISSN: 0036-0112; 1549-0831
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1999.tb00383.x

Relates the strategies of political resilience of landed oligarchies to the political dimension of the agrarian question in the Philippines. Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao is used to illustrate how pioneer agrarian families have protected their economic privileges and survived the political challenge posed by migrant politicians. Despite differences in their economic bases and social backgrounds, pioneer families and migrant politicians share various strategies of political entrepreneurship and rent-seeking that have maintained oligarchic rule. Analysis of provincial and national political dynamics, as played out in Bukidnon, shows how the nexus of property, power and privilege is consolidated, contested, and reconstructed in the ongoing competition among Bukidnon elites. (Original abstract - amended)