Publication

The major part of this report is dedicated to the description and analysis of two major aspects of Philippine politics which illustrate the appropriateness of the comparison to the traditional Mafia: the private use of violence for particularistic ends of personal domination and the systematic involvement of Philippine politicians and administrators in illicit business ventures – mostly in the form of rent-seeking, analyzed by using the example of the illegal game of chance Jueteng. In addition a short analysis of the policy of peace pacts, with which contending politicians try to minimize the violent fall-out of political competition, is given, because as this very policy paradoxically underscores the right to self-help in the political sphere.