The Political Economy of Social Transfer Institutionalisation in Cambodia and the Philippines during Periods of Crises

In comparative studies of social protection politics in the Global South, democratisation processes have been linked to waves of social policy expansion, most notably through the widespread introduction of child-centred social transfers. Promoted by international actors as mechanisms to reduce poverty and enhance human capital development, conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have however been introduced across many low- and middle-income contexts, including variations of democratic and authoritarian regimes. In the politically diverse region of Southeast Asia, CCTs were introduced widely after the consecutive Asian Financial Crisis (1997-98) and Global Financial Crisis (2008-09).

Based on analysis of documents and data collected through 35 interviews with policy actors and experts during fieldwork in April to June 2024, this study compares the institutionalisation and expansion of social transfers in the contexts of electoral democracy in the Philippines and electoral authoritarianism in Cambodia, representing ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ cases in terms of the institutional capacity to provide targeted social protection in Southeast Asia. It questions why family- and child-focused social protection policies were adopted in these different political contexts and to what extent competitive elections were drivers for their expansion. Preliminary findings show that periods of global and national crises created moments of political contestation as governments were faced with the challenge of addressing widespread socio-economic insecurities and maintaining their legitimacy. In the newly democratic space of the Philippines, contestation among political actors, powerful elite classes and non-state actors enabled policy agendas to advance in the aftermath of economic crises during the 2000s when its flagship CCT – the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program – was introduced. In Cambodia, CCTs which were simultaneously piloted did not expand in its fragmented policy space, and significant expansion only occurred during the recent Covid-19 crisis.