Clientelism Reconsidered

(1) Clientelism can exist at virtually any scale from the direct patron-client dyad to the social formation as a whole. (2) Clientelism is the form that prosocial reciprocity takes in the context of unequal access to valued goods, as well as unequal access to the status on which access depends. At the same time, it is the form that deference and display take where cooperation crosses status. (3) Clientelism is an intrinsically stable relationship, likely to survive moderate shocks to the parameters that govern the behavior of patrons and clients. A simple model of clientelist exchange is sketched. (4) Clientelism can coexist with a range of contextual factors, changing its secondary characteristics while leaving its core features intact. (5) Clientelism is not a vestige of “pre-modern” social structures; it can not only persist in the presence of markets, formal bureaucracies and academic institutions, but even express itself by means of such structures. (6) Clientelism is associated with characteristic problems, which can become acute under certain conditions. Because of the previous propositions, it is generally not a good idea to try to address these problems by suppressing clientelism altogether. The more promising approach is to try to mitigate the conditions that exacerbate the ill-effects of the patron-client exchange