1932

Abstract

Research on clientelism often starts from a shared puzzle: How can clientelism be a viable electoral strategy if voters can renege on their commitments to politicians? The standard solution proposed is that politicians resolve this commitment problem with voters through monitoring and enforcement. But there has been startlingly little evidence of individual-level monitoring and enforcement in the recent literature, and many studies now document the use of clientelism even where politicians are aware that the commitment problem remains completely intractable. When read together, recent studies suggest that the focus on resolving the commitment problem is a red herring. Instead, it is increasingly clear that clientelism does not need to be monitored and that the commitment problem does not bind as politicians choose their electoral appeals. New puzzles, motivated by advances in the recent literature, deserve comparatively more attention in future research.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032657
2020-05-11
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/polisci/23/1/annurev-polisci-050718-032657.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032657&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Aidt TS, Jensen PS. 2017. From open to secret ballot: vote buying and modernization. Comp. Political Stud. 50:555–93
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Albertus M. 2012. Vote buying with multiple distributive goods. Comp. Political Stud. 46:1082–111
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Albertus M, Diaz-Cayeros A, Magaloni B, Weingast BR 2016. Authoritarian survival and poverty traps: land reform in Mexico. World Dev 77:154–70
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Albertus M, Fenner S, Slater D 2018. Coercive Distribution New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  5. Aspinall E, Sukmajati M. 2016. Electoral Dynamics in Indonesia: Money Politics, Patronage and Clientelism at the Grassroots Singapore: NUS Press
  6. Auerbach A, Thachil T. 2018. How clients select brokers: competition and choice in India's slums. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 112:775–91
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Auyero J. 2000. The logic of clientelism in Argentina: an ethnographic account. Latin Am. Res. Rev. 35:355–81
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Baland JM, Robinson JA. 2008. Land and power: theory and evidence from Chile. Am. Econ. Rev. 98:1737–65
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Baldwin K. 2015. The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  10. Boone C. 2011. Politically allocated land rights and the geography of electoral violence: the case of Kenya in the 1990s. Comp. Political Stud. 44:1311–42
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Brierley S, Nathan NL. 2019. The connections of party brokers Work. Pap., London School Econ. Political Sci./Univ. Mich https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/noahnathan/wp-content/uploads/sites/413/2019/09/BrierleyNathan_connections_Sept2019.pdf
  12. Brusco V, Nazareno M, Stokes SC 2004. Vote buying in Argentina. Latin Am. Res. Rev. 39:66–88
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Cammett M, Issar S. 2010. Bricks and mortar clientelism: sectarianism and the logics of welfare allocation in Lebanon. World Politics 62:3381–421
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Camp E. 2017. Cultivating effective brokers: a party leader's dilemma. Br. J. Political Sci. 47:521–43
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Chandra K. 2004. Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Head Counts in India New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  16. Chauchard S. 2018. Electoral handouts in Mumbai elections: the cost of political competition. Asian Surv 58:341–64
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Chubb J. 1982. Patronage, Power, and Poverty in Southern Italy: A Tale of Two Cities New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  18. Corstange D. 2016. The Price of a Vote in the Middle East New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  19. Corstange D. 2018. Clientelism in competitive and uncompetitive elections. Comp. Political Stud. 51:76–104
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Cox GW, McCubbins MD. 1986. Electoral politics as a redistributive game. J. Politics 48:370–89
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Cruz C. 2015. Vote secrecy and democracy in the Philippines. Building Inclusive Democracies in ASEAN RU Mendoza, EJ Beja Jr., JC Teehankee, AGM La Viña, MF Villamejor-Mendoza 39–52 Manila: Anvil
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Cruz C. 2019. Social networks and the targeting of vote buying. Comp. Political Stud. 52:382–411
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Cruz C, Keefer P, Labonne J, Trebbi F 2018. Making policies matter: voter responses to campaign promises NBER Work. Pap 24785
  24. Diaz-Cayeros A, Estévez F, Magaloni B 2016. The Political Logic of Poverty Relief: Electoral Strategies and Social Policy in Mexico New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  25. Duarte R, Finan F, Larreguy H, Schechter L 2019. Brokering votes with information spread via social networks NBER Work. Pap 26241
  26. Ferree KE. 2011. Framing the Race in South Africa: The Political Origins of Racial-Census Elections New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  27. Ferree KE, Long JD. 2016. Gifts, threats, and perceptions of ballot secrecy in African elections. Afr. Aff. 115:621–45
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Finan F, Schechter L. 2012. Vote-buying and reciprocity. Econometrica 80:863–81
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Frye T, Retuer OJ, Szakonyi D 2019. Hitting them with carrots: voter intimidation and vote buying in Russia. Br. J. Political Sci. 49:857–81
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Frye T, Reuter OJ, Szakonyi D 2014. Political machines at work: voter mobilization and electoral subversion in the workplace. World Politics 66:195–228
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Gallego J. 2015. Self-enforcing clientelism. J. Theor. Politics 27:401–27
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Gans-Morse J, Mazzuca S, Nichter S 2014. Varieties of clientelism: machine politics during elections. Am. J. Political Sci. 58:415–43
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Gingerich DW, Medina LF. 2013. The endurance and eclipse of the controlled vote: a formal model of vote brokerage under the secret ballot. Econ. Politics 25:453–80
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Gottlieb J, Larreguy HA. 2016. An informational theory of electoral targeting: evidence from Senegal Work. Pap., Harvard Univ./Texas A&M. http://cpd.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/GL_SenegalElectoralBehavior-1.pdf
  35. Guardado J, Wantchekon L. 2018. Do electoral handouts affect voting behavior?. Electoral Stud 53:139–49
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Hicken A. 2011. Clientelism. Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 14:289–310
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Hicken A, Aspinall E, Weiss M, Muhtadi B 2019. Broker-buying, ticket-buying, and turf-protection: electoral handouts beyond clientelism in Indonesia Unpublished manuscript
  38. Hilgers T. 2011. Clientelism and conceptual stretching: differentiating among concepts and analytical levels. Theory Soc 40:567–88
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Ichino N, Nathan NL. 2013. Crossing the line: local ethnic geography and voting in Ghana. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 107:344–61
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Keefer P, Vlaicu R. 2008. Democracy, credibility, and clientelism. J. Econ. Law Organ. 24:2371–406
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Kitschelt H, Wilkinson SI. 2007. Citizen-politician linkages: an introduction. See Kitschelt & Wilkinson 2007 1–49
  42. Kramon E. 2017. Money for Votes: The Causes and Consequences of Electoral Clientelism in Africa New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  43. Kramon E, Posner DN. 2013. Who benefits from distributive politics? How the outcome one studies affects the answer one gets. Perspect. Politics 11:461–72
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Kuo D, Teorell J. 2017. Illicit tactics as substitutes: election fraud, ballot reform, and contested congressional elections in the United States, 1860–1930. Comp. Political Stud. 50:656–96
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Larreguy H, Marshall J, Querubin P 2016. Parties, brokers, and voter mobilization: how turnout buying depends upon the party's capacity to monitor brokers. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 110:160–79
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Lawson C, Greene KF. 2014. Making clientelism work: how norms of reciprocity increase voter compliance. Comp. Politics 47:61–77
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Levitsky S. 2003. Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  48. Lindberg SI. 2003. “It's our time to ‘chop'”: Do elections in Africa feed neo-patrimonialism rather than counteract it?. Democratization 10:121–40
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Lindberg SI. 2010. What accountability pressures do MPs in Africa face and how do they respond? Evidence from Ghana. J. Mod. Afr. Stud. 48:117–42
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Luna JP. 2014. Segmented Representation: Political Party Strategies in Unequal Democracies New York: Oxford Univ. Press
  51. Magaloni B. 2006. Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and Its Demise in Mexico New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  52. Mainwaring S, Zoco E. 2007. Political sequences and the stabilization of interparty competition: electoral volatility in old and new democracies. Party Politics 13:2155–78
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Mares I. 2015. From Open Secrets to Secret Voting: Democratic Electoral Reforms and Voter Autonomy New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  54. Mares I, Young LE. 2016. Buying, expropriating, and stealing votes. Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 19:267–88
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Mares I, Young LE. 2018. The core voter's curse: clientelistic threats and promises in Hungarian elections. Comp. Political Stud. 51:1441–71
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Medina LF, Stokes SC. 2007. Monopoly and monitoring: an approach to political clientelism. See Kitschelt & Wilkinson 2007 88–83
  57. Muhtadi B. 2019. Vote Buying in Indonesia: The Mechanics of Electoral Bribery Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan
  58. Muñoz P. 2014. An informational theory of campaign clientelism. Comp. Politics 47:79–98
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Nathan NL. 2016. Local ethnic geography, expectations of favoritism, and voting in urban Ghana. Comp. Political Stud. 49:1896–929
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Nathan NL. 2019. Electoral Politics and Africa's Urban Transition: Class and Ethnicity in Ghana New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  61. Nichter S. 2008. Vote buying or turnout buying? Machine politics and the secret ballot. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 102:19–31
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Nichter S. 2014. Conceptualizing vote buying. Electoral Stud 35:315–27
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Nichter S. 2018. Votes for Survival: Relational Clientelism in Latin America New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  64. Nichter S, Peress M. 2017. Request fulfilling: when citizens demand clientelist benefits. Comp. Political Stud. 50:1086–117
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Novaes LM. 2018. Disloyal brokers and weak parties. Am. J. Political Sci. 62:84–98
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Padro i Miquel G. 2007. The control of politicians in divided societies: the politics of fear. Rev. Econ. Stud. 74:1259–74
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Posner DN. 2005. Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  68. Ravanilla N, Haim D, Hicken A 2018. Brokers, social networks, reciprocity, and clientelism Work. Pap., Univ. Calif. San Diego/American Univ./Univ. Mich http://dotanhaim.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RHH_Brokers.pdf
  69. Resnick D. 2014. Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  70. Robinson JA, Verdier T. 2013. The political economy of clientelism. Scand. J. Econ. 115:260–91
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Rueda MR. 2015. Buying votes with imperfect local knowledge and a secret ballot. J. Theor. Politics 27:428–56
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Rueda MR. 2016. Small aggregates, big manipulation: vote buying enforcement and collective monitoring. Am. J. Political Sci. 61:163–77
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Schaffer J, Baker A. 2015. Clientelism as persuasion-buying: evidence from Latin America. Comp. Political Stud. 48:1093–126
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Schneider MA. 2019. Do local leaders know their voters? A test of guessability in India. Electoral Stud 61:1–12
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Shefter M. 1977. Party and patronage: Germany, England, and Italy. Politics Soc 7:403–51
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Stokes SC. 2005. Perverse accountability: a formal model of machine politics with evidence from Argentina. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 99:315–25
    [Google Scholar]
  77. Stokes SC, Dunning T, Nazareno M, Brusco V 2013. Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism: The Puzzle of Distributive Politics New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  78. Szwarcberg M. 2015. Mobilizing Poor Voters: Machine Politics, Clientelism, and Social Networks in Argentina New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  79. van de Walle N. 2007. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss? The evolution of political clientelism in Africa. See Kitschelt & Wilkinson 2007 50–67
  80. Weitz-Shapiro R. 2014. Curbing Clientelism in Argentina: Politics, Poverty, and Social Policy New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
  81. Zarazaga R. 2014. Brokers beyond clientelism: a new perspective through the Argentine case. Latin Am. Politics Soc. 56:23–45
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032657
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032657
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error