Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T14:47:35.159Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Neopatrimonialism on Poverty in Contemporary Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2020

Agustina Giraudy Open the ORCID record for Agustina Giraudy [Opens in a new window] ,
Jonathan Hartlyn Open the ORCID record for Jonathan Hartlyn [Opens in a new window] ,
Claire Dunn Open the ORCID record for Claire Dunn [Opens in a new window]  and
Emily Carty Open the ORCID record for Emily Carty [Opens in a new window]
Agustina Giraudy*
Affiliation:
Agustina Giraudy is an associate professor in the School of International Service, American University.
Jonathan Hartlyn*
Affiliation:
Jonathan Hartlyn is the Kenneth J. Reckford Professor of Political Science at theUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Claire Dunn*
Affiliation:
Claire Dunn is a Ph.D. candidate in political science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Emily Carty*
Affiliation:
Emily Carty is a profesora asociada in the Global and International Studies Graduate School, University of Salamanca.
*
giraudy@american.edu.
hartlyn@unc.edu.
cedunn13@live.unc.edu.
emily.carty@usal.es.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Neopatrimonial exercise of power, combining ruler appropriation of resources with ruler discretionality in the use of state power, remains present to varying degrees in contemporary Latin America. Building on an extensive literature, this article provides a delimited conceptualization and measurement of neopatrimonialism for 18 countries in the region and examines the effects of neopatrimonial legacies on poverty with cross-national quantitative analysis. The study finds that higher levels of neopatrimonialism have a significant, substantive impact on poverty levels, controlling for other relevant demographic, socioeconomic, and political factors. It confirms the importance of a cumulative record of democracy for poverty alleviation, while the analysis indicates that neopatrimonialism limits the effects of the political left in power on poverty reduction.

Keywords

NeopatrimonialismpovertyLatin Americademocracy
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 73 - 96
Copyright
© 2020 University of Miami 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abente Brun, Diego, and Diamond, Larry, eds. 2014. Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Achen, Christopher H. 2001. Why Lagged Dependent Variables Can Suppress the Explanatory Power of Other Independent Variables. Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the Political Methodology Section of the American Political Science Association, UCLA, July 20–22, 2000. This version November 2, 2001.Google Scholar
Bach, Daniel C., and Gazibo, Mamoudou, eds. 2012. Neopatrimonialism in Africa and Beyond. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Barro, Robert, and Lee, Jong-Wha. 2013. A New Data Set of Educational Attainment in the World, 1950–2010. Journal of Development Economics 104: 184–98. http://www.barrolee.com CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Nathaniel, and Katz, Jonathan N.. 1996. Nuisance vs. Substance: Specifying and Estimating Time-Series Cross-Section Models. Political Analysis 6, 1 (January): 1–36.Google Scholar
Bratton, Michael, and van de Walle, Nicolas. 1997. Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, Sarah. 2009. Social Protection and the Market in Latin America: The Transformation of Social Security Institutions. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Budd, Eric. 2004. Democratization, Development, and the Patrimonial State in the Age of Globalization. Lanham: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Cardenal, Ana Sofia, and Martí i Puig, Salvador, eds. 1998. América Central, las democracias inciertas. Madrid: Tecnos.Google Scholar
CEPALSTAT. 2018. Statistics and Indicators. http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/WEB_CEPALSTAT/estadisticasIndicadores.asp?idioma=i. Accessed March 2018.Google Scholar
Charrad, Mounira M., and Adams, Julia. 2011. Introduction: Patrimonialism, Past and Present. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 636: 6–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chehabi, Houchang, and Linz, Juan J., eds. 1998. Sultanistic Regimes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Collier, David, and Adcock, Robert. 1999. Democracy and Dichotomies: A Pragmatic Approach to Choices About Concepts. Annual Review of Political Science 2: 537–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppedge, Michael, et al. 2017. V-Dem Dataset v7.1. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. Database. University of Gothenburg. www.vdem.org Google Scholar
Corrales, Javier, and Penfold-Becerra, Michael. 2011. Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chávez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Crabtree, John. 2010. Democracy Without Parties? Some Lessons from Peru. Journal of Latin American Studies 42, 2: 357–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGrassi, Aaron. 2008. “Neopatrimonialism” and Agricultural Development in Africa: Contributions and Limitations of a Contested Concept. African Studies Review 51, 3: 107–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erdmann, Gero, and Engel, Ulf. 2007. Neopatrimonialism Reconsidered: Critical Review and Elaboration of an Elusive Concept. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 45: 95–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Peter. 1994. Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fairfield, Tasha, and Garay, Candelaria. 2017. Redistribution Under the Right in Latin America: Electoral Competition and Organized Actors in Policymaking. Comparative Political Studies 50, 4: 1871–1906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores-Macías, Gustavo. 2010. Statist vs. Pro-Market: Explaining Leftist Governments’ Economic Policies in Latin America. Comparative Politics 42, 4: 413–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerring, John, Thacker, Strom, and Alfaro, Rodrigo. 2012. Democracy and Human Development. Journal of Politics 74, 1: 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giraudy, Agustina. 2015. Democrats and Autocrats: Pathways of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Continuity Within Democratic Countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goertz, Gary. 2006. Social Science Concepts: A User’s Guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, Sanjeev, Davoodi, Hamid, and Alonso-Terme, Rosa. 2002. Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty? Economics of Governance 3, 1: 23–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartlyn, Jonathan. 1998. The Struggle for Democratic Politics in the Dominican Republic. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Hicks, Alexander. 1994. Introduction to Pooling. In The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State, ed. Hicks, and Janoski, Thomas. New York: Cambridge University Press. 169–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2001. Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2012. Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. n.d.a. Social Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Dataset. http://huberand-stephens.web.unc.edu/common-works/data. Accessed July 2017.Google Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. n.d.b. Latin America and the Caribbean Political Dataset. http://huberand-stephens.web.unc.edu/common-works/data. Accessed July 2017.Google Scholar
Kohli, Atul. 2004. State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linz, Juan J., and Stepan, Alfred. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Linzer, Drew, and Staton, Jeffrey K.. 2015. A Global Measure of Judicial Independence, 1948–2012 (formerly A Measurement Model for Synthesizing Multiple Comparative Indicators: The Case of Judicial Independence). Journal of Law and Courts 3, 2: 223–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linzer, Drew, and Staton, Jeffrey K.. 2015. Replication Data for A Global Measure of Judicial Independence, 19482012. DOI 10.7910/DVN/L716E8, Harvard Dataverse V1, UNF:6:0I9vDAVCq+5lFAHvGpbrNg==.Google Scholar
Madrid, Raúl. 2003. Retiring the State: The Politics of Pension Privatization in Latin America and Beyond. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal. 2013a. Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Pérez-Liian, Anibal. 2013b. Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America. Replication Dataset. University of Notre Dame and University of Pittsburgh. http://kellogg.nd.edu/democracies-materials.shtmlGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Scully, Timothy R., eds. 2010. Democratic Governance in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mazzuca, Sebastián. 2010. Access to Power Versus Exercise of Power: Reconceptualizing the Quality of Democracy in Latin America. Studies in Comparative International Development 45, 3: 334–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzuca, Sebastián. 2013. The Rise of Rentier Populism. Journal of Democracy 24, 2 (April): 108–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzuca, Sebastian L., and Munck, Gerardo L.. 2014. State or Democracy First? Alternative Perspectives on the State-Democracy Nexus. Democratization 21, 7: 1221–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medard, Jean-François. 1982. The Underdeveloped State in Tropical Africa: Political Clientelism or Neo-patrimonialism? In Private Patronage and Public Power: Political Clientelismin the Modern State, ed. Clapham, Christopher. New York: St. Martin’s Press. 162–92.Google Scholar
Mkandawire, Thandika. 2015. Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections. World Politics 67, 3: 563–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munck, Gerardo, and Verkuilen, Jay. 2002. Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices. Comparative Political Studies 35, 1: 5–34.Google Scholar
Ortega, Ana. 2011. La des diferenciación del sistema político hondureño. Tegucigalpa: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.Google Scholar
Perry, Guillermo E., Arias, Omar S., Humberto López, J., Maloney, William F., and Servén, Luis. 2006. Poverty Reduction and Growth: Virtuous and Vicious Circles. Washington, DC: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, Anne, Moran, Mary H., and Johnston, Michael. 2009. Rethinking Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism in Africa. African Studies Review 52, 1: 125–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plümper, Thomas, Troeger, Vera E. and Manow, Philip. 2005. Panel Data Analysis in Comparative Politics: Linking Method to Theory. European Journal of Political Research 44, 2: 327–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pribble, Jennifer. 2011. Worlds Apart: Social Policy Regimes in Latin America. Studies in Comparative International Development 46, 2: 191–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pribble, Jennifer. 2013. Welfare and Party Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pribble, Jennifer, Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2009. Politics, Policies, and Poverty in Latin America. Comparative Politics 41, 4: 387–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothstein, Bo. 2011. The Quality of Government: Corruption, Social Trust, and Inequality in International Perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigman, Rachel, and Lindberg, Staffan I.. 2017. Neopatrimonialism and Democracy: An Empirical Investigation of Africa’s Political Regimes. Working Paper 2017: 56. Gothenburg: Varieties of Democracy Institute, University of Gothenburg.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, Ernesto, Tommasi, Mariano, Echebarría, Koldo, Lora, Eduardo, and Payne, Mark, coords. 2005. The Politics of Policies: Economic and Social Progress in Latin America. 2006 Report. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.Google Scholar
Stein, Steve, and Monge, Carlos. 1988. La crisis del estado patrimonial en el Perú. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.Google Scholar
Stokes, Susan C., Dunning, Thad, Nazareno, Marcelo, and Brusco, Valeria. 2013. Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism: The Puzzle of Distributive Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theobald, Robin. 1982. Patrimonialism. World Politics 34, 4: 548–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Therkildsen, Ole. 2005. Understanding Public Management Through Neopatrimonialism: A Paradigm for All African Seasons? In The African Exception, ed. Engel, Ulf and Rye Olsen, Gorm. Burlington: Ashgate. 35–52.Google Scholar
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). 2010. Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics. Geneva: UNRISD.Google Scholar
Van de Walle, Nicolas. 2001. African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979–1999. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Soest, Christian, Bechle, Karsten, and Korte, Nina. 2011. How Neopatrimonialism Affects Tax Administration: A Comparative Study of Three World Regions. Third World Quarterly 32, 7: 1307–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Ed. Roth, Guenther and Wittich, Claus. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 1996. Democracy Without Equity: Failures of Reform in Brazil. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 2004. Neoliberalism and Democracy in Latin America: A Mixed Record. Latin American Politics and Society 46, 1: 135–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 2009. The Rise of Latin America’s Two Lefts: Insights from Rentier State Theory. Comparative Politics 41, 2: 145–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyland, Kurt, Madrid, Raúl, and Hunter, Wendy, eds. 2010. Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Dwayne. 2012. Review of Bach, Neopatrimonialism in Africa and Beyond. African Studies Review 55, 2: 169–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank. 2011. The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium. World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2018. World Development Indicators. Database. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators. Washington, DC: World Bank. Accessed January 2018.Google Scholar
You, Jong-Sung. 2015. Democracy, Inequality and Corruption: Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Giraudy et al. supplementary material

Giraudy et al. supplementary material

Download Giraudy et al. supplementary material(File)
File 257.4 KB