Shanty Town Politics: A Preliminary Analysis of Clientelism Where It Matters

• In Event: Voting Behavior and Accountability in Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a comparison between the perceptions, experiences, and attitudes associated with clientelism of slum dwellers and other poor voters in Argentina. Utilizing original data from a large-scale household survey conducted in Argentina in 2015, our results confirm the conventional wisdom regarding the higher prevalence of clientelism among slum dwellers, even after controlling for poverty. Moreover, we find that the experience of clientelism is associated with more requests for help from political actors, and higher participation in rallies and roadblocks. Regarding the mechanisms that sustain the clientelistic exchange, our survey experiment shows that voters are more afraid of sanctions in the case of not turning out to vote than of voting for another candidate, even when the breach in the clientelistic contract is clearly more damaging in the latter case. Hence, even when their vulnerability may increase shanty town voters’ dependence on clientelism to access resources, it is not clear that their choices on Election Day are associated with the fear of being monitored at the voting booth.

Authors

• Virginia Oliveros, Tulane University

• Maria Victoria Murillo, Columbia University

• Rodrigo Esteban Zarazaga, CIAS