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- Title
Does Patronage Still Drive Politics for the Rural Poor in the Developing World? A Comparative Perspective from the Livestock Sector.
- Authors
Leonard, David K.; Brass, Jennifer N.; Nelson, Michael; Ear, Sophal; Fahey, Dan; Fairfield, Tasha; Gning, Martha Johnson; Halderman, Michael; McSherry, Brendan; Moehler, Devra C.; Prichard, Wilson; Turner, Robin; Vu, Tuong; Dijkman, Jeroen
- Abstract
Is the analysis of patron–client networks still important to the understanding of developing country politics or has it now been overtaken by a focus on ‘social capital’? Drawing on seventeen country studies of the political environment for livestock policy in poor countries, this article concludes that although the nature of patronage has changed significantly, it remains highly relevant to the ways peasant interests are treated. Peasant populations were found either to have no clear connection to their political leaders or to be controlled by political clientage. Furthermore, communities ‘free’ of patron–client ties to the centre generally are not better represented by political associations but instead receive fewer benefits from the state. Nonetheless, patterns of clientage are different from what they were forty years ago. First, patronage chains today often have a global reach, through trade, bilateral donor governments and international NGOs. Second, the resources that fuel political clientage today are less monopolistic and less adequate to the task of purchasing peasant political loyalty. Thus the bonds of patronage are less tight than they were historically. Third, it follows from the preceding point and the greater diversity of patrons operating today that elite conflicts are much more likely to create spaces in which peasant interests can eventually be aggregated into autonomous associations with independent political significance in the national polity. NGOs are playing an important role in opening up this political space although at the moment, they most often act like a new type of patron.
- Subjects
PATRONAGE; RURAL poor; SOCIAL capital; LIVESTOCK; PEASANTS; POLITICAL participation; POLITICAL rights; SOCIAL participation; NONGOVERNMENTAL organizations; POLITICAL leadership; DEVELOPING countries; GOVERNMENT policy
- Publication
Development & Change, 2010, Vol 41, Issue 3, p475
- ISSN
0012-155X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01647.x