viii Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition Prologue Felipe B. Miranda This volume on Philippine democratization follows an earlier probe* that looked into the core features of modern democracies as they evolved worldwide and then summarily assessed the status of the Philippines as a modern democracy. In the present study, eight Filipino scholars collaborate in examining selected institutions, structures and processes that impact on their nation's ability to birth and nurture democratization initiatives. As senior academics, their challenge has been to competently reect on Philippine political history, a narrative that they had not only read and learned about but personally experienced in their ve or more decades of life in the country. The task is actually a rather daunting one for they cannot be said to be free of biases that could blunt their analytical rigor. After all, being Filipino, their acknowledged bias is democratic governance. Even as their political culture and history reect much tolerance, perhaps even in many cases an outright propensity for authoritarian mindsets, their modern world nevertheless inclines them to favor progressive development and demonstrably powerful, not so traditional ideas. Democracy is clearly an idea whose time has come. Nothing conrms this fact more than the great majority of constitutions proclaiming their faith in democracy. States as varied as Afghanistan, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, China, India, Russia, the two Koreas, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, France, Germany, Italy, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Egypt, Israel, (Qadda's) Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Uganda – an incredibly wide assortment of political regimes -- all solemnly profess adherence to "democracy" or "democratic" norms in their formal constitutions. So, incidentally, does the Philippines. Indeed, constitutions without an explicit allusion to "democracy" comprise a rather small set, with Iran, the United States, Japan, Singapore and Australia notably present. It is obvious that most states would like to claim democratic status or, at least, to project an ongoing, successful transformation of their polities into democracies. The professional literature on democracy tends to be supportive of these claims as indicated by the big number of polities that academics liberally label democratic or democratizing. __________________ *Miranda et al., Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy. Quezon City: Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and United Na ons Development Programme, 2011. Its “Preface” has been expanded and updated into the present volume's “Prologue”.