Political Clientelism in Democracies

Clientelism has been a central theoretical framework within political behavior and political economy used by political scientists to understand the behavior of low-income individuals in the developing world. Although the topic has been present in the social sciences for decades, political science has witnessed a sharp rise in studies of the topic since the 2000s, mostly, but not all, using surveys and, more recently, experiments to study the phenomena. There is considerable debate in the literature about what clientelism is or what can or cannot be considered clientelism. This article covers all studies that name the practice they study as clientelism, which ranges from studies that understand it as a cultural, political practice to those that conceptualize it as a mode of exchange or a tie between voters and politicians. The article only covers studies that use clientelism to analyze political behavior in democracies. Another set of studies not covered here is dedicated to uncovering how authoritarian leaders may also use clientelism as a tool of political mobilization. The article is divided among the major research topics in the field, covering issues that include conceptual discussions, the mechanism underlying clientelism, and the methodological discussion about measuring an informal practice.