Clientelism

Clientelism involves the political use of public office for personal gain like power, money, or both.
Cases of Clientelism
- The clientelist government acts as a patron that distributes in favor and benefits in the form of public jobs, money, contracts and pensions in return for political support.
  - Jobs: not according to merit, professional, training or experience, but those who support the government in power.
  - Contracts: not according to cost and quality of work, but for material and political gain.
- Embassy can have clientelism, where corruption, secret deals, hiding of information, abuse of power for personal gain might happen
Clientelism varies in degree
- It is strong in less well developed democracies if Latin America, Africa and central Europe.
- It also found in Italy and the US
- It is mainly found in societies that are rapid modernizing, urbanizing and industrializing, and in those that are struggling to throw off a recent history of authoritarian rule that rested on clientelism and patronage.
- Some are more or less formalized and public. Ex: supporter of a party will get a certain job of the party win (Nepotism)
- Mass clientelist parties in France, Italy and Mexico

References