Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:47:51.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2018

Simeon Nichter
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Get access

Summary

Chapter 1 introduces how and why citizens often play a crucial role in the survival of clientelism.The persistence of clientelism across the world presents an intriguing puzzle, given the wide range of challenges that ostensibly threaten its existence.The chapter summarizes the book’s argument that vulnerability often spurs citizens to undertake actions that help sustain “relational clientelism” – ongoing exchange relationships with politicians who render assistance when adversity strikes.It introduces two key mechanisms – declared support and requesting benefits – by which citizens fortify these long-term clientelist relationships. The chapter distinguishes relational clientelism from electoral clientelism and other forms of distributive politics, and examines why the phenomenon is especially prone to opportunistic defection.It provides an overview of each chapter, and discusses scope conditions and broader implications.The chapter explains why Brazil presents a fortuitous context to test the argument; corroborative evidence is also provided from Argentina and Mexico, as well as from Ghana, India, Lebanon, Yemen, and cross-national surveys in Africa and Latin America.

Type
Chapter
Information
Votes for Survival
Relational Clientelism in Latin America
, pp. 1 - 24
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Introduction
  • Simeon Nichter, University of California, San Diego
  • Book: Votes for Survival
  • Online publication: 06 December 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316998014.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Simeon Nichter, University of California, San Diego
  • Book: Votes for Survival
  • Online publication: 06 December 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316998014.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Simeon Nichter, University of California, San Diego
  • Book: Votes for Survival
  • Online publication: 06 December 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316998014.001
Available formats
×