Scholars typically emphasize the importance of organized networks and long-term relationships for sustaining electoral clientelism. Yet electoral clientelism remains widespread in many countries despite the weakening of organized parties. This book offers a new account of how clientelism and campaigning work in weak party systems and in the absence of stable party-broker relationships. Drawing on an in-depth study of Peru using a mixed methods approach and cross-national comparisons, Muñoz reveals the informational and indirect effects of investments made at the campaign stage. By distributing gifts, politicians buy the participation of poor voters at campaign events. This helps politicians improvise political organizations, persuade poor voters of candidates' desirability, and signal electoral viability to strategic donors and voters, with campaign dynamics ultimately shaping electoral outcomes. Among other contributions, the book sheds new light on role of donations and business actors and on ongoing challenges to party building.

Reviews & endorsements

‘In this extraordinary book, Muñoz introduces a reconceptualization of clientelism, which will reshape our understanding of electoral behavior in new democracies. Using a multi-method research design that includes survey experiments, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and case study comparisons, Muñoz shows how politicians lacking strong party organizations use handouts to boost their rallies. She then shows that rallies, and not handouts, influence electoral behavior. This book is a ‘must-read' for any student of electoral behavior, democracy, and Latin American politics.' M. Victoria Murillo, Columbia University, New York

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Product details

• Date Published: January 2019
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9781108422598
• length: 314 pages

• dimensions: 234 x 156 x 22 mm
• weight: 0.56kg
• contains: 20 b/w illus. 35 tables
• availability: In stock