Forms of manifestation of contemporary political clientelism. An analytical approach from the perspective of the specialized literature

Abstract

Political parties and candidates are engaging various methods and efforts to mobilize voters during electoral campaigns. Some of them are buying votes, offer jobs while others are using threats, intimidation and violence. All of these are components of more complex phenomenon, known as political clientelism. Much scholarly attention is paid to why political parties use clientelism, what are the costs and benefits and what are the implications for democracy. However, we know little about the forms in which this occurs. The paper addresses this gap in literature and analyzes what types of clientelism exist and what are its main forms of manifestation, in various political and social contexts. It reviews the extensive literature on clientelism and focuses on two major categories: positive clientelism and negative clientelism.

Keywords

• clientelism
• positive clientelism
• negative clientelism
• elections
• parties
• candidates