
11 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Blog
Social ties amongst lower-income citizens shape support for vote-buying candidatesAcross Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia, political candidates often attempt to buy the votes of the most socio-economically deprived communities. But new...
Journal Article
Clientelism and governancePart of Journal Special Issue Clientelist Politics and Development
Journal Article
Receiving more, expecting less?Part of Journal Special Issue Clientelist Politics and Development
Journal Article
Do gifts buy votes?Part of Journal Special Issue Clientelist Politics and Development
Journal Article
Poverty, social networks, and clientelismPart of Journal Special Issue Clientelist Politics and Development
Working Paper
Clientelism and governanceUnlike much of the growing literature on political clientelism, this short paper contains mainly the author’s general reflections on the broad issues of governance (or mis-governance including corruption), democracy, and state capacity that...
Blog
Clientelism – another reason to worry about US democracy
The last several months have given us many reasons to worry about US democracy – not least the riot at the US Capitol and the president’s refusal to...
Working Paper
Poverty, social networks, and clientelismWhy are the poor susceptible to clientelism, and what factors shield them from the influence of vote buying? We explore the role of both formal and informal social networks in shaping the likelihood of being targeted with private inducements. We...
Working Paper
Contract clientelismWhere does the money come from to buy votes? We argue that an important source of funds for vote-buying comes from ‘contract clientelism’, or the provision of public contracts to private firms in exchange for campaign donations. Using quantitative...
Working Paper
Do gifts buy votes?Vote-buying—or the pre-electoral distribution of private goods in exchange for support at the ballot box—is often blamed for the poor economic performance of many sub-Saharan countries. For instance, vote-buying may undermine accountability and the...
Working Paper
Social ties, clientelism, and the poor’s expectations of future service provisionAre candidates who hand out clientelistic goods at election time less likely to provide services once they take office? This paper examines the poor’s expectations of future service provision by candidates who hand out money and other goods versus...