Clientelistic Practices Research Articles

Etnicidad negra y elecciones en Colombia

In Colombia, despite the permanent increase of the population's disenchantment with politics—a phenomenon similar to that of many of the world s nations— the political identities of Colombians still correspond for the most part to formal registration in traditional political parties and to clientelistic practices of electoral participation. With a few particularities, the black populations do not escape this logic. In the nineties, black ethnic movements arose that attempted to constitute new political alternatives and wrest control of the black electorate away from traditional political forces, without positive results as of the present. This essay presents some elements of the electoral political participation of black populations throughout the history of the Colombian state up to the present, with the rise of new black movements; their results; and a few hypotheses that explain them.

Corruption and Clientelism in a 'Systemless System': The Europeanization of Maltese Political Culture

This article raises important questions concerning the deployment of stereotypes about traditional and modern political practices by the Maltese people. These stereotypes are often used to make claims against politicians and the state, reflecting various understandings of what the state (or government) is and does. For the Maltese, reform and modernization are often seen as positive developments. However, they are also fraught with risk, as clientelistic practices and systems of patronage are what make Malta's political system functional. Considering these issues through an anthropological lens, the article exposes an inherent tension in Malta - between the traditionalists and modernizers, that is, between those who wish to see Malta 'moving forward' via a process of Europeanization, and those who prefer to cling to Maltese ways of doing things.

Participatory budgeting in Brazilian cities: limits and possibilities in building democratic institutions

This paper describes participatory budgeting in Brazil, where citizen assemblies in each district of a city determine priorities for the use of a part of the city’s revenues. This is one of the most significant innovations in Latin America for increasing citizen participation and local government accountability. After describing its antecedents, as various local governments sought to increase citizen involvement during the 1970s and 1980s, the paper reviews the experience with participatory budgeting in the cities of Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte. It describes who took part in different (district and sectoral) citizen assemblies, the resources they could call on and the priorities established. It also discusses its effectiveness regarding increased participation, more pro-poor expenditures and greater local government accountability. While noting the limitations (for instance, some of the poorest groups were not involved, and in other cities it was not so successful) the paper also highlights how participatory budgeting allows formerly excluded groups to decide on investment priorities in their communities and to monitor government response. It has helped reduce clientelist practices and, perhaps more importantly for a society as unequal as Brazil, helped to build democratic institutions.

Participatory budgeting in Brazilian cities: limits and possibilities in building democratic institutions

This paper describes participatory budgeting in Brazil, where citizen assemblies in each district of a city determine priorities for the use of a part of the city’s revenues. This is one of the most significant innovations in Latin America for increasing citizen participation and local government accountability. After describing its antecedents, as various local governments sought to increase citizen involvement during the 1970s and 1980s, the paper reviews the experience with participatory budgeting in the cities of Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte. It describes who took part in different (district and sectoral) citizen assemblies, the resources they could call on and the priorities established. It also discusses its effectiveness regarding increased participation, more pro-poor expenditures and greater local government accountability. While noting the limitations (for instance, some of the poorest groups were not involved, and in other cities it was not so successful) the paper also highlights how participatory budgeting allows formerly excluded groups to decide on investment priorities in their communities and to monitor government response. It has helped reduce clientelist practices and, perhaps more importantly for a society as unequal as Brazil, helped to build democratic institutions.

Women’s Movements and Challenges to Neopatrimonial Rule: Preliminary Observations from Africa

Women’s movements in Africa represent one of the key societal forces challenging state clientelistic practices, the politicization of communal differences, and personalized rule. In the 1980s and 1990s we have witnessed not only the demise of patronage‐based women’s wings that were tied to ruling parties, but also the concurrent growth of independent women’s organizations with more far‐reaching agendas. The emergence of such autonomous organizations has been a consequence of the loss of state legitimacy, the opening‐up of political space, economic crisis, and the shrinking of state resources. Drawing on examples from Africa, this article shows why independent women’s organizations and movements have often been well situated to challenge clientelistic practices tied to the state. Gendered divisions of labour, gendered organizational modes and the general exclusion of women from both formal and informal political arenas have defined women’s relationship to the state, to power, and to patronage. These characteristics have, on occasion, put women’s movements in a position to challenge various state‐linked patronage practices. The article explores some of the implications of these challenges.

Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement

Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in. Quito Squatter Settlement. Gerrit Burgwal. Amsterdam: CEDLA, 1995. 260 pp.

Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement:Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement.

Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement:Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement.

Marchandisation du vote, citoyenneté et consolidation démocratique au Bénin

Commercialisation of the vote, citizenship and democratic consolidation in Benin. In Benin, democratic consolidation and the creation of new systems of political subjectivity are taking place, paradoxically, in the melting-pot of clientelist practices and the more general matrix of the «government of the belly ». We can thus see that the «political migration» of electors, who «eat up» indifferently the money of the candidates, has become a means of asserting the rights of the «individual-citizen». The hypothesis of the commercialisation of democracy is then examined in order to understand the complex and ambivalent methods for «taming» the pluralism of the modem world. The repertoire of the belly, which is generally used to stigmatise the injustice and greed of politicians, is now being used as an expression of equity, social justice and democratic accountability. In order to explain this, we must go beyond the utilitarian approach to electoral dealings and analyse the moral systems in which representations of power and money are set and take a deeper look into the «internal architecture of civic virtue» of ordinary citizens. As long as we can distinguish the registers of cunning from those of the trust, humility and «self-respect» which compose the moral capital of the «xomé» (the belly, interiority) , we can see that in the melting-pot of «government of the belly», decisive changes are taking place in the representations of political accountability.

Neo-clientelismo e cooptação na manutenção do poder político local: estudo de um caso

Este artigo apresenta os resultados parciais de uma pesquisa realizada em 1995/96 pelo autor, que procurava compreender um conjunto de práticas políticas de tipo clientelistas desenvolvido pelo governo municipal de uma cidade interiorana de porte médio. Tais práticas fazem parte de um 'modelo' político-administrativo instalado pela elite dominante da cidade. Sob sua iniciativa constrói-se um quadro institucional: a) burocrático, que não colabora na criação de canais formais, institucionalizados, de participação e representação dos interesses das classes populares; b) cooptador e autoritário, que busca a todo o tempo tutelar as organizações coletivas dos setores populares, restringindo-lhes a liberdade e autonomia. O fenômeno do clientelismo local é reconstruído a partir de relatos colhidos junto a lideranças populares que estiveram à frente de movimentos sociais no período enfocado.

Gerrit Burgwal, Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement (Amsterdam: Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA), 1995), pp. xvi+260, $25.00 pb.

Gerrit Burgwal, Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement (Amsterdam: Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA), 1995), pp. xvi+260, $25.00 pb. - Volume 29 Issue 3

Penelope's suitors: Administrative modernisation and party competition in Greece

The contribution undertakes to focus on the process of administrative reform in Greece during the past twenty years. In doing so, the strategies of the two central party organisations in Greek politics, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and New Democracy (ND) are detailed. The core argument consists in elaborating that administrative reform efforts have been intrinsically shaped by and are the results of specific features of competition between the two major political parties. Albeit with differences in approaches and priorities, both PASOK and ND reproduced the two major deficits of administrative reform in Greece: redundant reforms and re‐emergence of clientelistic practices.

UTICAJ KLIJENTELISTIČKE PRAKSE NA MEDIJSKI SADRŽAJ I SLOBODU MEDIJA

Rad se bavi problematikom klijentelističke prakse u medijima, sa posebnim osvrtom na socio-ekonomski status novinara i novinarki i prekarizaciju novinarske profesije u Srbiji. Takođe donosi pregled rezultata istraživanja indeksa klijentelizma u medijima u zemljama u regionu: Hrvatskoj, Bosni i Hercegovini, Makedoniji i Crnoj Gori. Cilj rada je da problematizuje korelaciju između nesigurnosti novinarskog posla, radnog vremena, mesta i uslova rada, pojave klijentelizma u medijima i urušavanja medijskih sloboda.
 Prema podacima regionalnog istraživanja „Odgovor građana na klijentelizam u medijima - MEDIA CIRCLE“ za 2016. godinu, situacija u svih šest zemalja regiona je zabrinjavajuća jer ni u jednoj državi nisu uspostavljeni adekvatni institucionalno-zakonodavni mehanizmi koji bi mogli da spreče pojavu klijentelizma. U Srbiji je drastičan pad detektovan 2015. godine, dok je istraživanje iz 2016. pokazalo stagnaciju u negativnom trendu. 
 U radu je analizirano i izveštavanje agencije Tanjug o rezultatima istraživanja o indeksu klijentelizmu medija, kao studija slučaja reflektovanja klijentelističke prakse na medijski sadržaj koji nije u skladu sa profesionalnim standardima.