Philippines: Patriarchal State

In a lucid, insightful and scholarly manner, Hutchcroft skillfully argues that the organization of Philippine political economy, which he calls a "patrimonial oligarchic state," facilitated the development of "booty capitalism." He defines booty capitalism as a situation where a group or groups "with an economic base outside the state is (are) plundering the state for particularistic resources." In other words, powerful and influential groups try to exact what they can from the state to satisfy their own interests.