Abstract
The article discusses the permanence of clientelistic practices and their tensions with the participatory approach adopted within the framework of the Brazilian public policy of rural territorial development. It examines, in particular, the case of local implementation of the National Program of Territorial Development. The results come from the study of the functioning of the Territorial Collegiate and the projects implemented in the Águas Emendadas Territory in the Midwest of Brazil. It uses a socio-anthropological approach of patronage and political participation through the analysis of the social configuration and the relations of instrumentalisation in both the participatory spaces and the projects of this territory. The results show the existence of a not only social but also an affective dimension of clientele practice that can be analyzed as an asymmetrical reciprocity relationship based on the principle of anthropological reciprocity or as a process of unequal political exchange, considering a political science approach.
Highlights
This study examines the permanence or reconfiguration of clientelistic practices [1,2], in the context of the implementation of sustainable territorial rural development policies in Brazil [3]
Many of the practices of clientelism observed in the context of the Territory of Águas Emendadas (TAE) do not correspond to relations of instrumentation, exploitation, or unequal exchange but, rather, to redistributive services associated with the existence of differentiated powers and status
The PRONAT model of sustainable territorial public action proposed a complex combination of participatory planning and vertical control of the financing of collective infrastructure projects
Summary
This study examines the permanence or reconfiguration of clientelistic practices [1,2], in the context of the implementation of sustainable territorial rural development policies in Brazil [3]. The aim here is to discuss the social (socioeconomic and sociopolitical) dimension of sustainability in the context of rural territorial development policies. For Carvalho (1997: 134) [2], the notion of clientelism ‘indicates a type of relationship between political actors that consists of granting public benefits, in the form of jobs, tax benefits, exemptions, in exchange for political support, mainly in the form of votes’. The main studies on clientelism generally focus on elections, election campaigns and clientelistic vote-buying practices. There is very little work on clientelism in rural development policies and projects around the world, and even very few on the permanence of clientelism in political participation mechanisms. This article, based on a case study in Brazil, aims to contribute to reducing this specific gap
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