“What’s in it for me?” Clientelism and Partisanship at Local Level

• In Event: Parties, Polarization, and Clientism

Abstract

There is an increasing polarisation in Western politics, but the same is also true for the much less covered newer democracies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Beyond other affective elements, in the context of poorly institutionalised party systems, it is often the strength of informal linkages that consolidate political support. Furthermore, poverty, precarity and absence of economic opportunities facilitate the consolidation of informal linkages over the (failed) social contract. We propose an innovative methodological assessment of clientelistic mechanisms, as we conduct a systematic comparative study at local level in urban and rural areas of Romania that accounts for both the prevalence of clientelism in its different forms, but also individual precarity (i.e. income, education), local economic development (i.e. poverty, local human development, unemployment, gross domestic product) and the extent of both private and public economic opportunities in the local community (i.e. size of private sector, size of local public budgets and expenditures, ratio of public vs. private sector employment, emigration data). Our findings suggest the need to move beyond the simple connection between poverty and clientelism and understand how the overall lack of economic opportunities leads to stable affective relationships with political patrons that engage in informal redistribution.

Authors

• Clara Volintiru, Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE)

• George Stefan, Babeș Bolyai University

• Raluca Andreea Popa, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

• Anca Maria Paraschiv, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

• Zlei Ecaterina Teodora, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies