Philippine Democratization: Summing-up Key Conceptual, Institutional, and Developmental Issues 257 form of special government subsidies for weaker but credible parties, stricter laws to restrict and monitor campaign nancing, and a system of open public fora for all parties and candidates to equalize disparities in campaign resources. The active participation of civil society organizations and the media in the democratization process are equally important activities in enhancing accountability mechanisms as explained in the chapters by Holmes and Teodoro. To offset their inherent limitations as smaller organizations oftentimes focused on single-issue concerns, civil society organizations can nd ways to form and sustain broader networks and alliances in support of progressive causes for the public good (health, education, electoral reforms, anti-corruption, the peace process, the environment, etc.). Consistent with this orientation, civil society groups can also enter into principled working alliances with selected government ofcials and agencies for the passage of progressive legislation and their effective implementation and monitoring. Media's role in enhancing accountability mechanisms has reached new levels of importance especially with the tremendous advances in information technology. However, as with any technological instrument it is a doubleedged force, acting either as an enabling or disabling mechanism for accountability. Media in its various forms (print, radio, television, internet, etc.) should be seen not only as important sources of information or disinformation but also as increasingly major sites for the political socialization of citizens as discussed by Gastardo-Conaco in her chapter. The ability of media to provide accurate and timely information to the public is empowering and enhancing of accountability mechanisms. But media can also provide disinformation or engage in cyber-bullying that can provoke instabilities and heighten conicts. One difcult challenge in societies with poorly developed state institutions is how to deal with public demands and popular participation made possible by formal democratic institutions and rights and further magnied by media articulations.6 In the context of political socialization, a related challenge is how to socialize among the people the norms and values of democratic citizenship, requiring a balancing act amongst the competing guiding principles of democracy (supremacy of the demos), liberalism (the inviolability of certain rights), and republicanism (the primacy of public service).7 In democratizing societies with weak horizontal accountability, the greatest threat remains that of elected presidents who are able to wield power with little institutional constraints. Invoking usually their substantial electoral support (not necessarily a majority) or at times even equating this electoral mandate with God's will, these willful executives further exercise their “delegative powers” by legitimizing their decisions as necessary actions in pursuit of the public good. Oftentimes, however, this presidential denition of the public good is seldom subject to public debate or consultations or at least some credible form of institutional consensus or vetting by legitimate political actors other than the president.