Political Clientelism, Democracy, and Market Economy

Abstract

Clientelistic practices and patronage-ridden politics are found in many contemporary societies. In the 1960s and 1970s an interpretive approach dominated studies in this field. It assumed that clientelism was a vestige of early modem development and that political and economic modernization would render it obsolete and ultimately end it. Since the 1980s the systemic persistence of clientelism and patronage has been recognized. Yet only in the current third wave of research have analysts begun to investigate the institutional sequences and indicators of political clientelism, tying them in with such issues as democratic governance and interest representation. Thus, even on historical subjects and the third world scholars have brought new convictions, concerns, and tools to their studies.