Clientelism and Patronage Politics
- The world is filled with reasonably stable and competitive electoral systems that seem to be based on a very different form of political representation from what was assumed based on electoral systems in Western Europe. How did these systems emerge? Why do they endure? What would lead them to collapse?
- Is clientelism bad? What are its effects on economic and political outcomes?
- How has what we know about clientelism changed since Scott’s original article?
- Is there an affinity between clientelism and (a) autocracy, (b) strong parties, (c) corruption, and (d) ethnic politics?
- What do you make of the experiments conducted by Finan and Schechter and Vicente? What would make the evidence they present more compelling?
- Are decentralization and civic participation solutions to clientelism?
- Analysts of American politics (see the recommended readings) have long spoken of “machine politics”, “ward bosses”, “precinct captains”, and “deliverable constituencies”. Are these simply different words for clientelism, patrons, brokers, and clients? If not, what is different about the United States?
