What is the definition of clientelism in Wikipedia?

Clientelism. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jump to navigation Jump to search. Clientelism is the exchange of goods and services for political support, often involving an implicit or explicit quid-pro-quo. Clientelism involves an asymmetric relationship between groups of political actors described as patrons, brokers, and clients .

How is the accountability relationship undermined by clientelism?

The accountability relationship in a democracy, where voters hold elected officials accountable for their actions, is undermined by clientelism. This is because under clientelism, votes are contingent on gifts to clients rather than the performance of elected officials in office.

How are brokers and leaders affected by clientelism?

As Stokes, Dunning, Nazareno, and Brusco emphasize, brokers in turn serve political leaders, and they may also not target resources exactly as leaders would wish; the resulting principal-agent problems can have important implications for understanding how clientelism works.

How is clientelism related to the concept of rent seeking?

In economic theory, clientelism is linked to the concept of rent seeking. Clientelist exchange is actually a subset of rent seeking. It involves explicit agreements according to which the beneficiary must reciprocate by supporting the agent in the political and administrative authority who has offered them the opportunity to extract a rent.

How is clientelism used in low income democracies?

In many young low-income democracies, clientelism may assume the form of group-level targeting in which parties channel benefits to specific groups of voters that are conditional on past or future electoral support.

How is clientelism different from pork barrel politics?

Within non-programmatic policy, clientelism is then distinguished from ‘pork-barrel politics’ in that voters are given a benefit or are able to avoid a cost conditional on their returning the favor with a vote.