Susan Stokes (Yale University)

“Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism”

abstract

Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism studies distributive politics:  how parties and governments use material resources to win elections. The authors develop a theory that explains why loyal supporters, rather than swing voters, tend to benefit from pork-barrel politics; why poverty encourages clientelism and vote buying; and why redistribution and voter participation do not justify non-programmatic distribution.  A wealth of new data and information from all the world’s regions are deployed to test the theory.  The theory also helps explain the demise of machine politics in 19th-century Britain and the United States.