SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
MODULE: 1 SECOND SEMESTER
Date: Jan. 04 – Jan. 08, 2021 S.Y. 2020 – 2021
CLASS NUMBER: _____________________ SUBJECT:
PHIL. POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
NAME: _______________________________________________ TEACHER: MR.
ARNOLD A. PAOMBONG
GRADE AND SECTION: HUMSS 11A- BONIFACIO CONTACT #:
Module 1: The Concepts of Politics and
Governance
At the end of this lesson, the students are able to:
1. Define politics and governance and understand the rules of the game.
2. Develop a critical way of thinking and in interpreting Politics and Governance.
3. Recognize the value and evaluate the importance of politics in their everyday dealings.
Day 1- Online Learning
PRETEST: ASSESSING THE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Topic: What does it mean to be political?
Which of the following actions do you think are political or are not political? Explain why or why
not. Put a check mark if the action is political and a cross mark (x) if it is not.
Please Please indicate your reasons why you think these
write ( ) actions are political or are not political
or (x)
1. Running for an elective post
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2. Joining a protest rally or
demonstration
3. Having a hair cut
4. Driving along Roxas
Boulevard in Manila
5. Swimming at the beach
6. Campaigning for a candidate
or a political party
7. Dressing up for a friend’s
birthday party
8. Voting in a National election
9. A fight between two drivers
over a public parking lot
10. A traffic enforcer issuing a
traffic violation ticket
11. The Philippines as Chair of
the ASEAN in 2017
12. The Philippine government
filing an arbitration case
against China
13. Watching Games of
Thrones
14. The Philippine Congress
passing law
15. Relief operations during a
state of calamity
16. Indigenous people
protesting against mining
activities
17. ASEAN Summits
18. Signing up for a Facebook
account
19. Sending #aldub- tamang
panahon Twitter posts
Processing Questions:
Can you identify any common patterns or trends among those activities you identified as political
and those which are not? Do these patterns or trends highlight issues, personalities, duties and
functions, rights and entitlements, institutions or processes?
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SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
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SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Day 2 and 3 –Online
THE MEANING OF POLITICS
In every aspect of man’s life, there is always a conflict and disagreement. They disagree
about the distribution of powers and resources as well as how to resolve such disagreement.
Questions such as “Why is there war?” What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of poverty?
How do we account for intolerance? How do we avoid ecological catastrophes? Broad agreement
that it is advantageous to avoid devastating wars, enhance prosperity, protects human rights and
guard against environmental disasters. This is where politics comes in.
Politics is the study of “who gets what, when and how” as Harold Laswell states. Who gets
power, authority, and leadership? When they are able to get such and how they able to get it? This
is linked to the idea that politics is “the master science” as called by Aristotle (Roskin, et.al., 2012).
He further elaborated that politics is present in all our daily dealings in the Polis (the Greek city-
state). This leads to the concept that Politics indeed could also be viewed as social activity – there is
always an interaction between and among the members of the society to resolve disagreement and
conflicts to attain common solutions. Also, the politics is said to be a natural outgrowth of human
development having capable of reasoning that named man as a political animal (Dooley et, al.,
2013).
Politics is the exercise of power, the science of government, the making of collective
decisions, the allocations of scarce resources and the practice of deception and manipulation.
Moreover, Politics is consists of people acting politically, by organizing political interest groups and
trying to induce governments to act ways that will promote their interests over those opponents. To
further understand politics, it must start by knowing something about how people acquire their
political beliefs, values, and notions how they act and should act politically. Politics could also be
viewed as “the process of making government policies.” Thus, it comes to the study of political
science. The development of political science as a discipline could be traced from the time of
Aristotle when he wrote the first systematic work focused on political affairs known as the Politics
that named him the Father of Political Science. The Father of Modern Political Science, Niccolo
Machiavelli, wrote “The Price” a handbook for rulers in the art of government. Thus, in
contemporary time Prof. Francis Lieber also wrote “Manual of Poltical Ethics”; the first systematic
treatise on political science that gives as well thorough understanding of the discipline. In the
Philippines, Department of Political Science was established in the College of Liberal Arts in 1915,
University of the Philippines. Teodoro M. Kalaw is the first Filipino student of politics and defined
political science in his Manual Ciencia Politica in 1918 as, “the nature and organization of the
State, the structure, and functions of the high branches of government, and the theory of political
and civil liberties (Agpalo, 1998).”
Political Science is defined as the systematic study of political and governmental institutions and
processes (Ranney, 1995). It is a discipline that seeks to understand the relationship between
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SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
individual and political institutions. Political institutions defined as collections of relevant rules
and routines that determines appropriate actions regarding relations between roles and
situations involving the determination of what the situation is, what role is being fulfilled, and
what obligation of that part in that situation is (Peters, 2012). Bluntschli, a Swiss scholar, defined
political science as “the science, which concerned with the state, which endeavors to understand
and comprehend the state in its fundamental conditions, in its essential nature, its various form of
manifestation, its development (Moten and Islam, 2011). To Paul Janet as cited by Moten and
Islam (2011, a French scholar, political science is, that part of science which treats the foundations
of the state and the principles of government.” Thus, the other definitions clearly indicate that
political science is not only limited to the study of the state and government, but it also includes the
society in macro perspective in so far as various institutions of the state are interrelated with one
another.
1. Politics always involves the making of collective decisions for group of people;
2. Those decisions are made by some members of the group exercising power over other members
of the group.
THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS
1. It is the basic knowledge and understanding of the state and the principles and ideals which
underlie its organization and activities.
2. It is primarily concerned with the association of human beings into ‘body politic’ or in a political
community.
3. It deals with those relations among men and groups which are subject to control by the state
with the relations of men and groups to the state itself and the relations of the state to another
state.
STAGES IN THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
1. Religious Stage – the government, its leaders and laws was considered as divine or divinely
inspired.
2. Metaphysical Stage – the state was considered as a human institution, and it is, therefore,
absolute (cannot be changed).
3. Modern Stage – the state was deemed capable of being improved by rulers and subjects
according to certain principles and laws.
APPROACHES TO DEFINING POLITICS
In Heywood citing Hay (2002) and Leftwich (2004) identified two broad approaches:
a. Politics as an Arena or location – In here, politics is associated with an arena or area, in which
case behavior becomes ‘political because of where it takes place. This includes the art of
government and public affairs.
b. Politics as a Process or mechanism – In which case ‘political’ behavior is behavior that
exhibits distinctive characteristics or qualities, and so can take place in any, and perhaps all, social
context. It includes compromise and consensus, and power and the distribution of resources.
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SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
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SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
THE MEANING OF GOVERNANCE
The concept of “governance” is as old as human civilization. Governance was defined as “the
process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not
implemented)”. Governance can be viewed in the following context: corporate governance,
international governance, national governance and local governance (UNESCO for Asia and the
Pacific). Good governance assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken
into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It
is also responsive to the present and future needs of society.
Good governance entails sound public sector management (efficiency, effectiveness, and
economy), accountability, exchange and the free flow of information (transparency), and a
legal framework for development (justice, respect for human rights and liberties) (Wyatt,
2005). Good Governance is defined focusing on legitimacy (government should have the
consent of the governed), accountability (ensuring transparency, being answerable for
actions and media freedom), competence (effective policy making, implementation and
service delivery), and respect for law and human rights (Wyatt, 2005).
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
• Participation
Participation as one the aspects of good governance, by both men and women, must
partake directly or indirectly (having a representative) in every governmental process. This
is because participation is an essential cornerstone of good governance.
• Rule of Law
The rule of law means to say that good governance manifested thorough the
impartiality of fair legal framework such as the promotion of a full protection of human
rights and dignity especially those members of minorities.
• Transparency
Transparency means that decisions were taken, and their enforcement are done in a
manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available
and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their
enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in
easily understandable forms and media.
• Responsiveness
Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders
within a reasonable timeframe.
• Consensus oriented
Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a
broad consensus in society on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how
this can be achieved. It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what is needed
for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development.
• Effectiveness and efficiency
Good governance means that processes and institutions procedure results that meet
the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. The concept of
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SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural
resources and the protection of the environment.
• Accountability
Accountability is a crucial requirement for good governance. Not only governmental
institutions but also the private sector and civil society organization must be accountable to
the public and their institutional stakeholders.
Day 4 –Modular Learning
Name: __________________________________ Score: ____________________
Course: __________________________________ Date: ____________________
ACTIVITY 1: Directions: List in the circles below what you have learned about
Politics and Governance. On the overlapping parts, write your ideas on how both topics are
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SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
POLITICS GOVERNANCE
interrelated.
ACTIVITY 2: POLITICAL CARTOONING
Direction:. Draw a political cartoon of what good governance would look like.
1. Make it unique and eye catching
2. Creatively and humour help
3. Using familiar figures also helps dramatically
4. Present in class and explain.
5. Then, the class will vote for the best cartoon.
Congratulations!
You have completed this
module.
References:
POLITICS WITHOUT BORDERS (philippine politics and governance)
DIANA J. MENDOZA/ MA. LOURDES F. MELEGRITO PAGE 1-14
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