Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T23:24:55.755Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Microfoundations of Political Clientelism: Lessons from the Argentine Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Mariela Szwarcberg
Mariela Szwarcberg*
Affiliation:
Reed College
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article challenges the assumption that parties and candidates with access to material benefits will always distribute goods to low-income voters in exchange for electoral support. I claim that a candidate's capacity to turn to clientelistic strategies of mobilization is a necessary but insufficient condition to explain his or her decision to use clientelism. Besides having the capacity to use clientelism, candidates have to prefer to use clientelism to mobilize voters. In studying candidates' capacities and preferences to use clientelism, this article provides an account of the microfoundations of political clientelism in Argentina. By combining quantitative and qualitative data at the municipal level, I find that the number of pragmatist candidates, who are capable of using clientelism and prefer to turn to such strategies, is almost equaled by the number of idealist candidates, who, though capable of doing so, prefer not to use clientelism.

Resumo

Resumo

Este estudio plantea la hipótesis de que la capacidad de los candidatos de utilizar estrategias clientelares es una condición necesaria pero insuficiente para explicar su decisión de distribuir bienes y beneficios materiales a cambio de apoyo electoral. Mas allá de tener acceso a bienes materiales y redes de activistas políticos que colaboren con la distribución de bienes, los candidatos deben también preferir usar estrategias clientelares. Este artículo combina datos cuantitativos y cualitativos a nivel municipal en Argentina para mostrar que no hay una diferencia significativa entre las preferencias de los candidatos que cuentan con la capacidad de usar clientelismo. El artículo encuentra una cantidad similar de candidatos que prefieren utilizar estrategias clientelares, candidatos pragmáticos, y candidatos que prefieren rechazar el uso del clientelismo, candidatos idealistas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , 2013 , pp. 32 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I thank Philip Keefer and Susan Stokes for comments, and the Social Science Research Council, Yale Program on Democracy, and the Kellogg Instistute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame for research support.

References

Ansolabehere, Stephen, de Figueiredo, John M., and Snyder, James M. Jr. 2003 “Why Is There So Little Money in U.S. Politics?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 17 (1): 105–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auyero, Javier 2000 Poor People's Politics: Peronist Survival Networks and the Legacy of Evita. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balan, Manuel 2011 “Competition by Denunciation: The Political Dynamics of Corruption Scandals in Argentina and Chile.” Comparative Politics 43 (4): 459–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brusco, Valeria, Nazareno, Marcelo, and Stokes, Susan C. 2004 “Vote Buying in Argentina.” Latin American Research Review 39 (2): 66–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgwal, Gerrit 1996 Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement. Amsterdam: Centro de Estudios y Documentación Latinoamericanos.Google Scholar
Calvo, Ernesto, and Murillo, María Victoria 2004 “Who Delivers? Partisan Clients in the Argentine Electoral Market.” American Journal of Political Science 48 (4): 742–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canton, Darío, and Jorrat, Jorge Raúl 2003 “Abstention in Argentina Presidential Elections, 1983–1999.” Latin American Research Review 38 (1): 187–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Case, Anne 2001 “Election Goals and Income Distribution: Recent Evidence from Albania.” European Economic Review 45:405–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleary, Matthew R. 2007 “Electoral Competition, Participation, and Government Responsiveness in Mexico.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (2): 283–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Matthew D. 1986 “Electoral Politics as a Redistributive Game.” Journal of Politics 48 (2): 370–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlberg, Matz, and Johansson, Eva 2002 “On the Vote-Purchasing Behavior of Incumbent Governments.” American Political Science Review 96 (1): 27–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díaz-Cayeros, Alberto, Estévez, Federico, and Magaloni, Beatriz 2008 “Strategies of Vote Buying: Poverty, Democracy and Social Transfers in Mexico.” Unpublished manuscript, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Dixit, Avinash, and Londregan, John 1996 “The Determinants of Success of Special Interests in Redistributive Politics.” Journal of Politics 58 (4): 1132–1155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, Thad, and Stokes, Susan 2009 “Clientelism as Persuasion and Mobilization.” Unpublished manuscript, Yale University, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan 1994 “The Difficult Transition from Clientelism to Citizenship.” World Politics 46:151–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gans-Morse, Jordan, Mazzuca, Sebastián, and Nichter, Simeon 2009 “Who Gets Bought? Vote Buying, Turnout Buying, and Other Strategies.” Working Paper 09–0006, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Gay, Robert 1990 “Neighborhood Associations and Political Change in Rio de Janeiro.” Latin American Research Review 25 (1): 102–118.Google Scholar
Gay, Robert 1994 Popular Organization and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro: A Tale of Two Favelas. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Gervasoni, Carlos 2010 “A Rentier Theory of Subnational Regimes: Fiscal Federalism, Democracy, and Authoritarianism in the Argentine Provinces.” World Politics 62 (2): 302–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, Edward L. 2005 “Boundary Control: Subnational Authoritarianism in Democratic Countries.” World Politics 58:101–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giraudy, Agustina 2010 “The Politics of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Reproduction in Argentina and Mexico.” Journal of Politics in Latin America 2:53–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert, and Wilkinson, Steven 2007 Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazar, Sian 2004 “Personalist Politics, Clientelism, and Citizenship: Local Elections in El Alto, Bolivia.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 23 (2): 228–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven 2003 Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Murillo, María Victoria 2005 Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Mora y Araujo, Manuel, and Llorente, Ignacio, eds. 1980 El voto peronista: Ensayos de sociología electoral argentina. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana.Google Scholar
Nazareno, Marcelo, Brusco, Valeria, and Stokes, Susan C. 2006 “Réditos y peligros electorales del gasto público y elecciones en Argentina.” Desarrollo Económico 46 (181): 63–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichter, Simeon 2008 “Vote Buying or Turnout Buying? Machine Politics and the Secret Ballot.” American Political Science Review 102 (1): 19–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostiguy, Pierre 1998 “Peronism and Anti-Peronism: Class-Cultural Cleavages and Political Identity in Argentina.” PhD diss., Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Peruzzoti, Enrique 2006 “Media Scandals and Social Accountability.” In Enforcing the Rule of Law, edited by Peruzzoti, Enrique and Smulovitz, Catalina, 249–271. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piattoni, Simona, ed. 2002 Clientelism, Interest, and Democratic Representation: The European Experience in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, James, and Verdier, Thierry 2002 “The Political Economy of Clientelism.” Center for Economic Policy Research, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Rosas, Guillermo, and Hawkins, Kirk 2007 “Turncoats, True Believers, and Turnout: Machine Politics in an Australian Ballot System.” Paper presented at the Workshop on Political Competition and Government Policy, Durham, NC, May.Google Scholar
Schady, Norbert R. 2000 “The Political Economy of Expenditures by the Peruvian Social Fund (FONCODES), 1991–95.” American Political Science Review 94 (2): 289–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shefter, Martin 1977 “Parties and Patronage: England, Germany, and Italy.” Politics and Society 7 (4): 403–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Richard 2001 “Scaling Down: The Subnational Comparative Method.” Studies in Comparative International Development 36 (1): 93–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, Susan C. 2005 “Perverse Accountability: A Formal Model of Machine Politics with Evidence from Argentina.” American Political Science Review 99 (3): 315–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, Susan C. 2007 “Is Vote Buying Undemocratic?” In Elections for Sale: The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying, edited by Schaffer, Frederic Charles, 81–100. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szwarcberg, Mariela 2004 “Feeding Political Loyalties: Clientelism in Argentina.” Paper presented at Comparative Politics Workshop, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Szwarcberg, Mariela 2009 “Making Local Democracy: Political Machines, Clientelism, and Social Networks in Argentina.” PhD diss., University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Szwarcberg, Mariela 2012 “Uncertainty, Political Clientelism, and Voter Turnout in Latin America: Why Parties Conduct Rallies in Argentina.” Comparative Politics 45:88–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torre, Juan Carlos 2005 “Citizens versus Political Class: The Crisis of Partisan Representation.” In Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness, edited by Levitsky, S. and Murillo, M. V., 165–180. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Waisbord, Silvio 2004 “Scandals, Media, and Citizenship in Contemporary Argentina.” American Behavioral Scientist 47 (8): 1072–1098.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca 2012 “What Wins Votes: Why Some Politicians Opt Out of Clientelism.” American Journal of Political Science 56 (3): 563–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar