A review of the Aquino, Ramos, and Estrada administrations in the Philippines reveals a declining foreign influence on the country’s politics, especially since the rejection of the military base treaty in 1991. Nevertheless, Filipino politics have long been heavily under the influence of foreign powers, and the United States in particular–“and its economic policy still is. Low levels of political institutionalization facilitate foreign influence, while the extreme form of patrimonialism under Estrada inhibits it. Macapagal-Arroyo is taking tentative steps toward strengthening state institutions, but is personally very open to American economic advice.