14 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy contentions; those favoring the substantive outcomes of democratic rule, on the other hand, allege that focusing overly much on method does not make enough demands on what democracy and democratic governance ought to bring about. The debate may not be a real one as both method and ends obviously could simultaneously inhere in the concept of democracy and democratic governance. The main obstacle to a more productive, synergistic probe into democratic theory and empirical democratic governance appears to be the uncompromising demands of the procedurally inclined scholars to come up with demonstrably pragmatic, useful studies. As one of them curtly points out in criticizing those who would worry about values of political freedom in their democratic studies, "Fuzzy norms do not yield useful analysis (Huntington 1993: 9).” Many remain wary about minimalist democracy studies using elections as their most critical variable. Some expressed doubts about the "economicism" — the use of primarily economic analytical tools and subject focuses—of their democracy studies and found themselves going back to their "philosophical, legal and moral theory" studies to anchor their probes into then emerging democracies. (O'Donnell 2000) Decades earlier, another theorist had poetically pointed out that even as the procedural or methodic concerns of democracy should not be ignored, democracy nevertheless has its principles and core values. Within the limits of these, democracy recognizes the legitimacy of whatever ideals or fundamental beliefs—different and even conflicting— that the citizens may cherish. It is a political system and a theory in which men may freely pursue their dreams and purposes, and try to convert them into reality through politics. Lacking the certainties of a closed system, democracy provides the greater challenge, the wider opportunities; but not of repose, since 'repose' is not the destiny of man (Mayo 1960: 309). The professional literature on democracy and democratization has grown much faster than on other social science concerns — Schmitter's own description of this phenomenon is "a burgeoning of democratization studies" (2010: 18). This proliferation of books, journal articles and even quasi-academic opinion pieces on democracy and democratization obviously has to do with its nearly universal appeal. Political regimes across the board, from left to right in terms of ideological location and including some that are demonstrably antidemocratic, insist on at least a formal identification with this iconic regime. The Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, an economist, has actually repeatedly drawn attention to this remarkable catholicity of democracy in current times. Other writers have at various times commented similarly. (Amartya Sen, "Democracy as a Universal Value" in Diamond and Plattner 2009: xxviii, 315-320; Heywood 2007: 71-72; also see Crick 2002:8 and Mayo 1960: 21-22)