44 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy Notes 1 There are a few interesting exceptions to the academics' popular neglect of the human development perspective in defining democracy; its explicit identification as a core concern and its integration into the meaning of democracy is found in Wetzel (2002), O'Donnell (2004), Sen (2004 and 2009) and where having a political voice is equated with democratic governance, also in Stiglitz, et al. (2010). Similarly, Munck, despite some hesitation in treating "outcomes of the political process" as an integral concern of democracy, relents and conceptually situates human development in democracy's constituent idea of political equality: As argued by the proponents of the concept of human development and the capabilities approach such as Amartya Sen (1999 [Development as Freedom]) and Martha Nussbaum (2000 [Woman and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach]), a lack of material resources that are indispensable for an adequate standard of living, access to health, and access to education, is associated with a reduction of human capabilities. And the differential attainment of human capabilities necessarily has ramifications for the political process and, specifically, for the exercise of civil and political rights…Thus, to avoid a strictly legalistic and overly formal conception of what is entailed by an equal opportunity to participate in the political process, what might be tentatively phrased as the attainment of social integration should be included as a defining feature of democracy (2009: 126-127). 2 The citation was made precisely to suggest the wide range of popular meanings for the concept democracy. In a Philippine setting, however, there is another reason for the citation. Heywood's volume is the University of the Philippines' primary textbook in introductory political science and being the country's most prestigious tertiary institution—the premier state university no less—other colleges and universities are likely to adopt it for their own students. Consequently, the foundation knowledge of technical political science and practical politics among the country's professors and students can be greatly influenced by Heywood's text. The present and the next generation of educated Filipinos may well understand the meaning of democracy as Heywood construes it, i.e. a mostly liberal democratic regime, with a strong emphasis on competitive elections or formal political contestation as democracy's definitive sine qua non. This orientation does not make it imperative for a regime to be democratic that it also links with and clearly serves human development ends, the primary thesis of the present paper.