In Search of Credible Elections and Parties: The Philippine Paradox 61 exclusivist interests and loyalties is bound to create difficult problems for state formation and democratization, particularly in the absence of strong national political institutions. As sub-ethnic groupings, families and clans are “less likely to foster broad ethno-national movements or nation-state identities” (Collins 2004: 234). Moreover, the accountability mechanism that forms a key aspect of the democratization process becomes short-circuited by narrow kinship loyalties rather than legitimized by broad citizens' choices. In the Philippine context, a key political mechanism used to negotiate contentious state-society linkages driven by powerful family and clan interests has been an electoral process fuelled by a pervasive system of patronage linking national and local political elites. In the same manner that state-building in a “state in society” framework is to be explained by its engagement with social forces, the process of democratization is likewise to be seen in the same way. Thus state formation may or may not be accompanied by democratization or result in a democratic regime. A democracy is a specific type of regime that requires its rulers to be held publicly accountable by its citizens. One can have a strong and capable state that is undemocratic or a democratic regime in a weak state. However, in the process of modernization, societies with weak state institutions face the risk of being overwhelmed by a multitude of popular demands, and lack the political institutional capability to effectively address such claims.17 As the political scientist Alfred Stepan argues, “ . . . democracy is impossible without a 'usable state' (2007: 422). Reflecting the “state in society” framework, this study systematically examines the electoral outcomes from 1987 to 2010 covering the positions of Congressional representatives and provincial governorships. Political families that have won these seats may be considered to be the most influential in the country since these positions serve as the nexus between national and local power by facilitating patronage flows and rent-seeking activities. Needless to say, political families that also win the apex of national positions such as the presidency, vice-presidency, and senatorial positions are able to best maximize their positions of power and authority. In this study, a political family is deemed to exist if at least two members of the same family (typically up to the third degree of consanguinity) have won a congressional and/or gubernatorial seat between 1987 and 2010. An individual who has won at least three times as representative and/or governor during the same period and who has a family member who had served as president, vicepresident, senator , representative or governor during the postwar election years is also deemed to belong to a political family. These definitions actually