아세안

The purpose of this article is to analyze the popular understanding of democracy in the Philippines based on Asian Barometer Survey data I, II, III, and to evaluate the democratic transition process in the country since 1986. Some meaningful findings of this article are as follows: first, the popular understanding of democracy in the Philippines has more negative sides than positive ones. Second, those negative sides are getting stronger in recent survey data than in previous ones. Third, popular understanding of basic principles of democracy is also negative. This article, therefore, finds that the near future of democracy in the Philippines is not promising at all, considering the attitudes and perceptions of the Filipinos toward democracy itself and principles of it. In that regards, Filipinos cannot attain the goal of democratic consolidation without changing the popular understanding of democratic values and beliefs. Procedural or institutional changes are not enough to achieve democratic consolidation in any country in the world as well as in the Philippines.