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"The Crooked Course of Charles Crowe: A Reconstruction Narrative" is an article that explores the life of Charles C. Crowe, a white southern Republican during the Reconstruction era. The article discusses Crowe's personal journey, including his political advocacy, marriage, and military service, as well as the challenges he faced as a white Republican in the South during this period. It also examines the political landscape in Alabama during Reconstruction and the role of Crowe, a former Confederate captain who became a prominent Republican. The text sheds light on the efforts of southern Republicans to find opportunities in the western territories and contributes to our understanding of Reconstruction and the experiences of scalawags. [Extracted from the article]

A politicization of diplomacy weakens the professionalism of the foreign service and arguably endangers the external relations of states. Yet, this phenomenon has largely escaped scholarly scrutiny. Public administration research on politicization usually overlooks the foreign service, whereas diplomacy scholars have focused almost exclusively on the United States. Our exploratory study of ambassador appointments compares the levels and modes of politicization (through politically connected professionals, or political appointees) of 669 ambassadors in 2019, across seven countries and three administrative traditions. The analysis is guided by three expectations: 1) countries that are more politicized overall appoint more non-career ambassadors; 2) patronage recruitment of political appointees focuses on low-hardship postings; and 3) politically connected professionals are used to control politically important foreign missions. We find that states politicize their foreign services to a varied degree and in different ways. Appointing politically connected professionals instead of political appointees is the most common way of politicization among our cases. In this regard, the US is an outlier, which also points to the need of studying politicization of diplomacy comparatively. This article thus makes an important contribution by setting the agenda for future research on this hitherto underexplored topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-engaged scholarship has largely neglected the potential of sports to construct progressive forms of community and mobilize disparate interests. In this article, we critically reflect on how sports were used for placemaking purposes in the Friendship and Hope Campaign, an annual event that is driven by residents of Thembelihle, a low-income community in South Africa. The Campaign is a participatory and community-based intervention that seeks to strengthen community relations and mobilize resources to build peaceful, nonracial, and nonsexist communities. Although the Campaign hosted several sports tournaments and cultural events, its attempt to strengthen community cohesion for the purposes of making democratically-led change renders it a political approach to placemaking. Yet, as with all community-engaged work, this was far from a simplistic process. The Campaign's deployment of sports as a placemaking practice was complicated by a multitude of political interests that oftentimes contradicted the community-oriented values and aims of the Campaign. We reflect on how patronage politics can assist us in understanding such internal contestations and conflicting interests, and how community campaigns can work to move through and hold complexity in a democratic fashion, rather than attempt to settle such complexity altogether [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In divided-executive patronal systems, legislatures have been sites of resistance to the centralization of power in a single patronal pyramid. Kyrgyzstan is an anomaly among divided-executive patronal systems when between 2010 to 2020, the Kyrgyz parliament was neither a site of opposition nor did it demonstrate legislative agency vis-à-vis the executive. Instead, following another uprising in 2020, a unified single patronal pyramid was re-established. Adopting an approach rooted in the semiotics of meaning making and drawing on a dataset of interviews with parliamentary deputies and a range of documentary sources, this article complements existing institutional approaches to explaining weak legislative agency by revealing a series of dialogical relationships between deputy meaning making and broader institutional and cultural constraints which shaped the Kyrgyz's parliament's overall quality and strength. These relationships pertain to legislative initiative, the protection of private interests and representation, with the interplay between the ascribed meaning and its constitution within broader institutional and cultural context contributing to the diminishment of legislative agency vis-à-vis the presidency. Kyrgyzstan illustrates the value of meaning making as an approach to understanding legislative-executive relations in non-democratic contexts, and its impact in conjunction with cultural and institutional constraints in shaping legislative agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding clientelist practices is one of the core issues to unravel to ensure the proper functioning of electoral institutions. This article focuses on the decision of patrons/brokers on who to target, introducing a new norm into the picture – authoritarianism. Building on the theories of norm-based compliance, I argued that authoritarian individuals should be more frequently targeted, as they should be more likely to comply with brokers demands without external monitoring. I posit that this is true because authoritarian individuals should be more willing to submit to the will and demands of authorities (brokers), and because they are likely to evaluate clientelism as morally acceptable and a legitimate electoral strategy. Furthermore, the rate of authoritarian targeting should be higher in institutional settings that limit the overall reach of clientelism. Utilizing Afrobarometer (2011-2013) data for 34 countries, through multilevel regression modelling I show that authoritarian individuals do have a higher chance of being targeted with the strength of this association increasing as the district magnitude rises. This article opens a new avenue of research that introduces individual level authoritarianism into the literature on clientelist targeting and complements the norm-based compliance approach with a focus on a new and potentially influential norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how negative oil shocks affect military expenditures and the quality of democracy in the oil rentier states of the greater Middle East using annual data from 1990 to 2018, inclusive. The theoretical analysis suggests that a reduction in oil revenues decreases the government spending on patronages and public goods and may challenge the political power of the incumbent leader. The results of the impulse response functions based on the estimated panel vector autoregressive models indicate that the responses of the military burden and non-military expenditures (as a percentage of GDP) to negative oil shocks become negative and statistically significant after three to four years. Reductions in the financial capability of a rentier government and spending on patronages improve the political environment and quality of democracy. However, this political improvement takes some time to develop as the government may resist the reduction in its expenditures during the initial phase of oil shocks. The policy implication of these results is informative for organizations and policymakers interested in the security and political impact of oil sanctions. Restrictions on oil exports decrease the military spending of the oil rentier states and improve their democracy indices in the long run, although the short-run impacts can be negative. These results are not sensitive to different proxies for oil abundance, alternative data on military expenditures, different indicators of democracy, and different groups of oil-dependent countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local brokers are essential in the implementation of clientelist politics, but their efforts on parties' behalf are not fully observable. A growing literature studies how parties address this agency problem, highlighting two distinct reward schemes: allocating promotions or prizes based on observed vote shares or doing so based on inferred effort allocations. This article develops a formal model to examine the conditions under which one or the other of these reward schemes is optimal for minimizing brokers' rent seeking. Intuitively, the effort-based reward mechanism is optimal when broker effort is inferred with relative precision. Less intuitively, the vote-based mechanism will tend to be optimal when a party's supporters are evenly distributed across regions and when the prize β adopts intermediate values, which together lead to high levels of interbroker competition. When brokers must compete with one another over valued prizes, parties can often minimize rent seeking without directly monitoring broker effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instrumental use of patronage for political appointments and career advancement can be found across all regime types and historical periods. Despite a pronounced academic interest in the political and economic effects of patron-client relationships, little is known about the nature of interplay between informal networks and formal hierarchies. How are formal powers distributed in personalized bureaucracies? The article addresses this question through a cross-temporal case study of subnational government in one of Russia's regions – Sverdlovsk Oblast. Based on network analysis and negative binomial regression, the article shows that subnational leaders and their clienteles seek to monopolize those formal powers that allow administrative control over other executive agencies, while other coercive, financial, and normative powers are distributed relatively evenly. This pattern persists regardless of institutional context, degree of subnational autonomy, or the shape of informal networks, which signifies the importance of controlling functions that the core of informal networks in personalized bureaucracies performs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010, waves of protest have ebbed and now largely faded across the Arab states of the Middle East, and authoritarian politics there appear to be stronger than ever. Has dissent disappeared, or merely become harder to notice? I argue in this article that clientelism serves as an important locus of latent dissent in the Middle East, one that calls into question the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, though it often happens away from public view. Employing data from four waves of the Arab Barometer, however, I show that the more citizens perceive clientelism to be prevalent in society, the less likely they are to willingly obey their government when they disagree with it. This finding is most pronounced among those most on the fence about obeying the government in the first place, and during periods in which overt dissent is least apparent. Clientelism beliefs also increase support for democratic alternatives in the most recent data. In addition, while clientelism should increase voting and election-related mobilization, I find inconsistent results across time. This article complicates our current understanding of the role clientelism plays in authoritarian states, and it sheds new light on the "client side" of the patron-client relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides an overview of the history of the civil service in South Korea, focusing on political appointments at the upper levels of the bureaucracy. We limit our investigation's scope to presidential appointments of ministers and underscore the necessity for additional scholarly attention to this subject. To empirically assess these appointments, we introduce a novel dataset and conduct an analysis that examines the demographic characteristics and career paths of past ministers, alongside the types of political patronage employed in their appointments. This analysis utilizes the analytical framework of loyalty versus competence as proposed by (Ouyang, Y., Haglund, E. T., & Waterman, R. W. (2017). The missing element: Examining the loyalty-competence nexus in presidential appointments. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 47(1), 62–91.) and the typology of patronage outlined by (Panizza, F., Peters, B. G., & Ramos Larraburu, C. R. (2019). Roles, trust and skills: A typology of patronage appointments. Public Administration, 97(1), 147–161), which is further elaborated by (Peters, B. G. (2023). Patronage in Asian political systems: A framework for research. In B. G. Peters, C. Knox, & B. Kim (Eds.), Political patronage in Asian bureaucracies (pp. 1–21). Cambridge University Press). Our findings reveal that, irrespective of the regime or ministry, programmatic technocrats are the most prevalent type of presidential appointee in South Korea, with nearly half being former bureaucrats. Although most ministers in South Korea align with this category, we also discern significant variations across different regimes and ministries. These findings provide insights into the practices of political appointments in South Korea's civil service and contribute to the literature on public administration and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing an original data set, this paper demonstrates how protectionist industrial policy during the period of hybrid liberalization has shaped the organizational structure of clothing firms in Egypt. It investigates determinants of vertical integration of clothing firms into fabric production. High-end market segments are a critical determinant of integration. Limited access to finance restricts the possibilities for many firms to undertake the investment required to integrate, whilst volatile and uncertain market conditions make firms more likely to rely on the market for their inputs. But there are nuances related to market segment. Producers of higher quality garments rely on imported textiles, so these producers do not integrate even if search and switch costs are high. But the opposite is true of producers relying on domestic suppliers. Foreign institutions are better able to ensure contract enforcement with respect to quality and timely delivery so that suppliers' opportunistic behaviour is deterred, reducing the necessity of clothing firms to integrate. This may not be the case with respect to domestic suppliers when domestic institutions do not guarantee the same level of enforcement. The adoption of the hybrid liberalization model meant that the transition to a market economy was not preceded by the creation of the necessary regulatory framework. This model resulted in inefficient upstream production and in an institutional setting conducive to agency problems. It also meant that business suffers excessive and inefficient bureaucracy. It is thus not possible for firms to achieve the first best outcome of arm's length relations based on frictionless market transactions. Given these structural constraints firms opt for the second best solution of make rather than buy, i.e. vertical integration. But only some firms are able to use the arbitrary and discretionary decision making system to their favour, negotiating government obstacles to successful business. Those linked to power, prospered, whilst the businesses of others foundered against the wall of patronage, bureaucracy and red tape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patronage is often considered a subtype of clientelism that arises through reciprocal arrangements between a politician and a citizen, where electoral support is rewarded with public employment. In Chile, there is evidence of clientelist practices at the municipal level. However, these studies have mainly had a qualitative focus. To complement these studies, this research aims to provide quantitative evidence using panel data and two-way fixed effects. Thus, we analyse the personnel hiring through the Mercado Público platform between 2009 and 2017 across the country’s 345 municipalities, finding evidence that support two hypotheses: (i) there is a political budget cycle, increasing spending by 14.9% during the election year and (ii) independent politicians spend less on hiring people than mayors who are militants of political parties, being this expenditure -9.8% less for independents than for the latter. These results seek to complement other research on clientelism and patronage in a context of the rise of independent politicians and citizen questioning of traditional political parties, as well as the relevance of public spending in local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contexts where social cleavages are universally salient, how can political alliances across social identity groups be forged? A wealth of research examines the effects of either electoral rules or social identity on electoral behavior, but the interplay between these two factors is understudied. This article leverages original datasets of tribal voting coalitions, parliamentarian constituent casework logs, and a national survey in Jordan to demonstrate how institutions interact with social identity to shape distributive politics. Within single non-transferable vote districts (SNTV), representatives win their seats based on tribal support and practice tribal favoritism in service provision. On the contrary, elected officials in single member plurality districts (SMDs) cobble together more diverse coalitions to win their seats and distribute state benefits more evenly between in-group and out-group members. Bolstering these findings, data from a 2014 nationwide survey show that a history of having tribal connections with parliamentarians' augments voter turnout in SNTV districts, whereas it has no relationship with voter turnout in SMDs. This article offers an understanding of why politicians build electoral coalitions and distribute clientelistic benefits within or across social identity groups with important implications for the consideration of electoral institutional design in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia represents a contrasting type of mobilization regime, in which individual candidates organize their own I ad hoc campaign teams i , through which they distribute micro-level benefits during electoral campaign periods using mainly private (not public) resources. As the authors illustrate with broker-survey data and anecdotes, distinguishing I local machine i regimes from I ad hoc team i regimes particularly enriches the comparative research by departing from the dichotomy of relational and single-shot clientelism. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the life and political career of Isaiah D. Clawson, a physician and politician from Salem County during the antebellum era. Topics include his shifts in political affiliation, including his association with the Whig, American (Know-Nothing), and Republican Parties, as well as his strategies to gain and retain political support amidst changing political dynamics.

"Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia" is a book that explores the role of patronage in politics and elections in Southeast Asia. The authors provide a conceptual framework to understand patronage and examine its mechanics and patterns in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, with additional evidence from Singapore, Thailand, and Timor Leste. The book is based on extensive fieldwork, interviews, and surveys conducted over a decade, involving a network of local scholars and researchers. The authors highlight the differences in patronage methods and channels in the three countries and discuss the implications of patronage on governance and democracy. Overall, the book offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of patronage in Southeast Asia. [Extracted from the article]

Effective democratic governance rests on the executive's ability to forge coalitions that can advance policy and sustain the government against challengers. Scholars have long focused on cabinet appointments to understand how executives build coalitions with their legislative allies. In many democracies, however, cabinet appointments at the ministerial level may only represent the tip of the iceberg. We show that administrative political appointees (APAs) beneath the ministerial level constitute one of the most important ways that cooperation between legislative and executive is forged. Leveraging a unique and comprehensive database of an average 2600 Brazilian APAs per year over two decades, we evaluate their effect on coalition unity in critical legislative votes. We demonstrate that these APAs, which we collectively term the "patronage coalition," have a significant effect on legislative support and thus are a critical tool for presidents. Our results are particularly relevant to a new emphasis in the political science literature on the "toolbox" that presidents utilize to address the challenges of simultaneously maintaining legislative support while implementing policy. These results demonstrate that the patronage coalition is a fundamental tool that should be more widely integrated into models of legislative-executive bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Secondary School Leaving Examination, which is administered at the completion of grade 12 is the only criterion that determines admittance of students into the University. Students from Amhara Region; who have been under pressure of the Northern Ethiopian Armed Conflict, have scored unusual low entry marks which have yet given acceptable reply. This article aimed at exploring the nature of appeal system in Ethiopia, the issues of accountability and legitimacy of the Ministry of Education. Situational analysis of qualitative research approach is employed in this study. The study found out that there is no clear and trusted appeal system which inclusively and effectively provides response to the complaints. Besides, the ethnic politics of the country sadly spoils the education system and not everyone stands for the right of students, but only those who do have ethnic affiliations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the resurgence of regional coalitions in Sarawak and Sabah following the 14th and 15th General Elections, respectively. It shows how federal-level government changes in Malaysia can result in the realignment of regional parties in Sarawak and Sabah, which had significantly shaped Malaysia's political landscape as BN's frontline states. The resurgence of the regional coalitions, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), demonstrates not only the fragmentation of national politics and the rise of regionalism but also the ease with which regional parties dominated by strongmen and aided by patronage can realign, enter and exit coalitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia's 15th general election (GE15) in November 2022 took place on the back of a tumultuous period in which the country experienced government alternation several times at federal and state levels from 2018. This article primarily addresses whether incumbency advantages were prevalent, and if so, how and when? Based on interviews and documentary data, the article concludes that, especially in a post-pandemic setting, incumbency mattered. However, Barisan Nasional (BN) experienced a form of 'unrealised incumbency'. Without institutional reforms, trends in GE15 indicate that patronage and dependence on politicians for welfare gains seem to be a mainstay of Malaysian politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the tendency of new voters to vote for the first time in the 15th General Election (GE15). Based on the statistics released by the Election Commission (SPR), the number of new voters who voted for the first time is around 6.2 million, of which 1.3 million are between 18 and 20 years old. Since they are a group of first-time voters, the tendency of their political support could be unclearer. Many parties wonder where their political support is headed, especially in the manycornered competition involving extensive political cooperation such as Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional, and Gerakan Tanah Air. Accordingly, this paper aims to examine the tendency of new voters during the last GE15 campaign period through an online survey. The survey was conducted openly with the target of eligible voters, and 1438 respondents have given feedback. The study results show that 91 percent of the total number of respondents will go out to vote, and they tend to choose elected representatives who have integrity and are free of corruption, do not break promises, and are highly educated. Most of the group of respondents also tend to support national political trends. From that, new voters who vote for the first time have a good intensity of political literacy. Therefore, they become the determinants of changes in the current political support unrelated to political patronage elements like previous generations. They can also be catalysts for change in society in general and the country's leadership in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

" "Elista is our city": Kalmykia's 2019 protests and politics in Russia's republics. Internal migration from republics like Kalmykia is an important if understudied aspect of the migration regime in Russia, with signal importance for the economies of peripheral, migrant-sending regions. Kalmykia is located in southwest Russia, a few hundred kilometers to the north of the Caucasus mountains. [Extracted from the article]

This work aims to define the structural elements of aristocratic rule, noble lords in Álava and Parientes Mayores (heads of household) in Guipúzcoa and Biscay, over their lordships and church patronages; the fiscal and political opposition presented by hidalgos (petty nobility), peasants, ferrones (metal-industry workers) and townspeople; and the evolution of the resulting conflict over time. We also outline the discourses elaborated to legitimise lordly authority or to reject it, and those mobilised to denounce the arbitrary fiscal demands of the nobility and conditions of political exclusion. In order to illustrate this, we examine the rule of the Rojas and the Hurtado de Mendoza families over the small towns of Antoñana and Santa Cruz de Campezo, and the steadfast opposition to this rule from the towns' residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on Shakman v. Pritzker, court case. It discusses the Seventh Circuit determined that the Governor of Illinois, U.S. had satisfied the requirements of a fifty-year-old consent decree related to political patronage in employment decisions; the background of consent decrees and their role in institutional reform; and how the Seventh Circuit's decision reflects broader trends in addressing federalism.

In many new democracies, the police continue to be a political tool of the ruling elites, and governments are reluctant to reform the police to be a democratic police force. This article examines why these problems occur by analyzing how the police relate to ruling elites and how this relationship affects police practices and police reforms based on a case study on Thailand. By adopting the institutionalist approach concerning the impacts of informal institutions on formal institutions, this study finds that political patronage between politicians and police officers made the police a political tool of politicians in power and led to the failure to reform the police to develop democratic policing during democratisation in Thailand in the period of 1992–2006. After the 1992 uprising, businessman-politicians replaced military leaders to be patrons of police officers by manipulating police reshuffles in Thailand. Through these relationships, police officers abused their powers to aid politicians and political parties to suppress political opponents and dissent through selective law enforcement and criminal investigations. Political patronage affected police reforms through 'constraining' policies that were designed to increase the accountability of the police and prevent abuse of police powers, while, at the same time, 'reinforcing' the restructuring of police organisation and administration to strengthen the relationship of political patronage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of tenure 'contracts' that exist within the low-income settlements involves more than title deeds. Accordingly, 'tenure security' manifests itself beyond legal or de jure construction as it also involves de facto forms of tenure and dweller's perception of security. The perceived tenure security is in turn a function of people's lived experiences which shape the trust they may grant to the future effectiveness of land tenure arrangements. Contextual and historical factors, ranging from political patronage to market pressure to policy provisions, govern the perception of tenure security which usually gets overlooked in policy formulations. With a focus on Mumbai and Jaipur in India, this paper aims to generate and examine the viability of a list of indicators that influence perceptions of land and housing tenure security. The intention is to engender a method towards housing solutions beyond the unidirectional aim of titling and in favour of incremental approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing primarily on Frederick II of Prussia's correspondence, which was filtered through his cabinet secretaries, this article explores how the king used his army in constructing patronage networks that reached beyond the limits of Brandenburg-Prussia. He not only appointed members of German families as officers but also expected them to train with and command their men. Frederick II's army was certainly a vital means of exercising power, but it also proved a viable tool for integrating and discipling client families within the Holy Roman Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spoil dumps are the main sediment sources in the open-pit mining area. The erosion control is of great significance to the high-quality development of the energy zone. This article aims to analyze the gully development and sediment process of spoil dumps. The plot construction of platform-steep slope system and field scouring experiments were also carried out, where the flow rate was ranged from 60 to 80 L/min, and the duration was 45 mins each run. The results showed that: 1) The gully was developed by the combination of different erosion progresses, including the headcut migration, bed incision, and lateral erosion on the platform-steep slope system. Notably, there were the stage differences in the topographic characteristics of gully, due to the variation of dominant process. A three-stage development was experienced for the gully on the platform, including the headcut formation, migration-expansion, and stable stage. In the gully on the steep slope, four developmental processes were divided into the incision of sandy loam layer, expansion of sandy loam layer, incision of clay loam layer, and deceleration of erosion. No significant differences were found between the various flow rates of gully development speed on the platform. Whereas, the transformed time increased with the flow rate between adjacent gully development stages on the steep slope. 2) In terms of sediment process, the migration - expansion stage was the main erosion period on the platform. The incision of sandy and clay loam layer were the main erosion stages on the steep slope, particularly with the accumulated sediment yields accounting for 29.72%~53.36% and 19.06%~48.88%, respectively. Spatially, the runoff shear force and stream power increased by 7.11-120.86 times, and 7.59-239.59 times after the runoff flowed from the platform into the steep slope, and the erosion rate increased by -0.84-66.20 times. Correspondingly, the steep slope was the main sediment source of the platform and steep slope system. The cumulative sediment yield was accounted for 88.15 %-90.16 % of the total amount of platform and steep slope system. Hence, the separation and control of runoff on the platform was a vital way to control the gully erosion in the platform-steep slope system of spoil dumps. 3) In terms of the flow hydraulics, the platform velocity decreased first and then increased with the gully development. Conversely, the slope velocity decreased gradually. Meanwhile, the runoff shear stress and the runoff stream power increased gradually with the gully development on the platform, but increased first, finally decreased on the steep slope. 4) Comparatively, the erosion rate presented a more sensitive response to the stream power than the runoff shear force, where the response regularity was different among the gully development stages. The erosion rate was linearly responded to the stream power in the migration-expansion stage and stable stage of platform. On the steep slope, the responses were still linear in the expansion of sandy loam layer and deceleration of erosion, but the exponential in the incision of sandy and clay loam layer. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the difference of responses in the various gully development stages, in order to improve the applicability of sediment transport model for the gully erosion. As such, the results revealed the staged development of gully and sediment process on the platform-steep slope system of spoil dumps. The finding can also offer the strong reference for the gully process, further to implement the soil and water conservation measures in the spoil dump. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the literature on the political consequences of smallness, focusing on the case of Saint Lucia. Interviews with 19 MPs and senators reveal a political reality of patronage and corruption that occurs in daily encounters with constituents, but also within formal institutions. The study shows that politicians who habitually grant personal favours to constituents, most times do so because there is a genuine need due to economic hardship. Thus, though it is not their intent to get involved in patronage practices, their actions nevertheless create exactly such practices. When it comes to patronage and corruption within formal institutions, however, MPs and senators are fully aware of its existence. Regardless of political affiliation, they also acknowledge that there is no interest in coming to terms with these occurrences, since the shared sentiment is that keeping the status quo is politically convenient for all parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While little research has been done to examine the mobilities of current Vietnamese professional migrants, this paper sought to address this gap by reporting on a qualitative study on the mobilities of Australia-educated and domiciled professional migrants from Vietnam.It examined their decisions to migrate through specific ways of everyday lives as being-in-the-world. By analysing the reasons for migration among 15 participants, this study found that migrants' decisions are informed by both spiritual and materialistic concerns, variously framed by an attempt to escape from their perceived lack of political patronage, a remedy for personal upheavals and ideological conflicts, an expectation for adventure and social status, pursuit of knowledge and income, or a search for intergenerational security. Skilled migrants do not experience one of these reasons in isolation but rather, a set of interrelated motives. The respondents' decisions to leave are influenced by the micro-politics of everyday life under the influence of Vietnam's socio-political transformations. The theoretical concept of being-in-the-world has the potential to conceptualize transnational mobilities of skilled migration in at least 5 related manners: ambiguity in mobilities, equipment, possibilities, (in)authenticity and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While little research has been done to examine the mobilities of current Vietnamese professional migrants, this paper sought to address this gap by reporting on a qualitative study on the mobilities of Australia-educated and domiciled professional migrants from Vietnam. It examinedtheir decisions to migrate through specific ways of everyday lives as being-in-the-world. By analysing the reasons for migration among 15 participants, this study found that migrants' decisions are informed by both spiritual and materialistic concerns, variously framed by an attempt to escape from their perceived lack of political patronage, a remedy for personal upheavals and ideological conflicts, an expectation for adventure and social status, pursuit of knowledge and income, or a search for intergenerational security. Skilled migrants do not experience one of these reasons in isolation but rather, a set of interrelated motives. The respondents' decisions to leave are influenced by the micro-politics of everyday life under the influence of Vietnam's socio-political transformations. The theoretical concept of being-in-the-world has the potential to conceptualize transnational mobilities of skilled migration in at least 5 related manners: ambiguity in mobilities, equipment, possibilities, (in)authenticity and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For example, just how did Kenyatta's administration avoid the outbreak of military coups in Kenya, which were so common in this period of postcolonial history in other African states? Power and the presidency in Kenya: the Jomo Kenyatta years: by Anaïs Angelo, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2020, ix + 306 pp., £22.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781108713832 I Power and the presidency in Kenya: The Jomo Kenyatta years i presents an outstanding analysis of the nature and extent of political power in Kenya during the First Republic. [Extracted from the article]

While Márquez does not provide a blueprint for MALDEF's future financial independence, he has successfully argued that Ford Foundation funding translated into less power for MALDEF lawyers. Chapter 1's interpretive framework theorizes the relationship between cause lawyers, philanthropy attorneys like those from the Ford Foundation, and social movement lawyers. Márquez also shows that LULAC leader Tijerina's connection to Jack Greenberg of Ford gave birth to MALDEF. [Extracted from the article]

In this article an analysis of the legal nature of the public policy of entry into public employment is carried out through a brief normative genesis of the subject and in this way understand if we have had normative progress or it is possible to show setbacks in the execution of the norms of admission to the administrative career, identifying the vicissitudes, the obstacles that we find from our perspective in the implementation of this regulation for its execution from the perspective of a state entity and how it has affected the implementation of merit in Colombia, the above having taking into account that special importance arises because the human resource is the main support for the development of the state purposes defined in our Political Constitution. Establishing if Colombia is a State that has sought to strengthen public employment or if, on the contrary, there is an intention to maintain the usual patronage and political loot, finding that initially we have a system for entering the administrative career with normative robustness and that through the imposition of the empire of the judges since its pronouncement that admission to the administrative career must be through merit for the cases that are contemplated and not automatic. Finding that Colombia has sought a normative strengthening and has achieved it, materializing mainly since the 1991 constitution and although the constituent understood the importance of this issue, the subsequent legislatures that have had to regulate it for a better implementation, in our opinion, have not had the true intention to do it, therefore today we have a system that does not have enough budget or personnel to be able to execute it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Price HB £95.00. Price HB £125.00. Price HB £26.99. Price HB $95.00. [Extracted from the article]

Leaders need resources to maintain power. To secure these resources, states can develop their own extractive capacity or seek external support to help subsidize their costs. In this study, we argue that extractive capacity and external support are not always alternatives. We focus on how US support can foster local property rights, which subsequently builds extractive capacity. We then argue that states with more capacity are better able to either alleviate rebels' grievances or deter rebels from mounting a military challenge. We use mediation analysis to test these expectations with a data set on capacity, US support, and civil conflict from 1970 to 2012. We find empirical support for the role of property rights and capacity as mediating factors between US support and civil conflict. Our results have implications for international explanations of civil conflict and the role of US patronage in capacity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, populists have won elections on the strength of crowd-pleasing, but norm-defying, policy proposals. Although effective at mobilizing support at election time, these policies are often difficult to implement in practice because populists lack allies throughout the political system. Examining President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal War on Drugs in the Philippines, we find that mayors excluded from existing establishment patronage networks filled this critical implementation gap. Employing regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences approaches, we demonstrate that outsider mayors received 40% lower public works appropriations and, in turn, executed Duterte's drug war much more aggressively. Outsider-led municipalities had 40% more antidrug incidents and 60% more extrajudicial killings by police. The results illustrate an important trade-off between patronage politics and corruption (politics as usual) and violent democratic backsliding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a national university has been widely viewed by smaller developing countries as a means of asserting sovereignty and driving the country's economic, social, and cultural development. This has been particularly true in the South Pacific, despite the existence of the regional University of the South Pacific. Building a national university with the limited financial resources of a small developing country presents numerous challenges. This paper, using a critical ethnographic methodology, examines the lessons from the first ten years (2010–20) of Fiji National University from the perspective of an insider researcher. Some challenges are common to new universities created by merging smaller colleges. Others are more specific to developing countries, including the dependence on public funding and political patronage. Some challenges are more distinctively Pasifika, with cultural values of familial loyalty and respect for elders, sometimes in conflict with 'imported' management practices. The spectre of neo-colonialism is ever present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By focusing on Swails' experiences in the 54th Massachusetts, Rhea laudably attempts to shift focus away from Robert Gould Shaw to a Black soldier. In these chapters about Reconstruction, Rhea is at his best, centering Swails in order to offer a concise and clear picture of the interplay between politics and vigilantism in South Carolina. [Extracted from the article]

Pakistan and Bangladesh have suffered a long way under the military rule where two military dictators-Zia ul Haq and Zia ur Rehman correspondingly, made the extensive use of Islam in the domain of politic, resulting into the Islamic extremism in these two countries. Bangladesh managed to overcome the issue of military involvement in politics and the corresponding Islamic extremism, Pakistan has become even more vulnerable to such undemocratic and extremist forces. This paper first briefly explores the regional and trans-regional factors involved in Islamization of these two countries. The resultant Islamic extremism in these two countries is then analyzed with the help of three major indicators: Islamization of Laws; growth of Madrassas and official patronage of the religious political parties by the two military dictators. Thus, this research is unique from the previous studies on two grounds: first it explores the interrelationship of geopolitics, military rule and Islamic extremism; second it analyzes variation in impacts of the Islamization policies in these two countries in the context of their distinct geographical settings and their corresponding importance for the big powers in diverse situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, voters are targeted with clientelistic and programmatic electoral offers. Existing research explores the demand side of clientelism, but we still know very little about what determines voters' acceptance of clientelistic and programmatic electoral offers. This article builds a novel theoretical framework on the role that democratic dissatisfaction and political knowledge play in shaping voters' acceptance of different types of electoral offers. We test the implications of the theory with a survey experiment conducted after the 2019 local elections in Bulgaria. Our results show that low-knowledge voters and those who are dissatisfied with the performance of democracy and democratic institutions are more likely to accept clientelistic offers from politicians. The findings contribute to the literature on electoral clientelism and political attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper theorises the political entrepreneurship of local political actors variously described as brokers, fixers or leaders, by examining their consistent and flexible labour towards gaining and maintaining political influence in informal settlements. Through close attention to how two exemplary individuals work and network with a combination of political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local associations, I reveal the crucial role of political entrepreneurs in organising or representing local populations as legible 'communities', and thus, in mediating relations between communities and external agencies such as the state, political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and also academic researchers. Observing informal settlements in this relational framework sheds light on how political entrepreneurs compete to become obligatory intermediaries between various institutions. This approach destabilises conceptions about the social infrastructure and social capital of a locality which underlie many community development programmes. Further, I argue that in the long-term, the careers of political entrepreneurs are punctuated by structural constraints in the form of limits to political party patronage, volatile NGO funding and the transient presence of academic researchers. The work of reproducing the social capital of the neighbourhood becomes a persistent and anxious striving with few actual opportunities for mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revisiting the 1899 Royal Commission into the Queensland Police Force (QPF) this article studies the persistence of political patronage in the appointment of public service leaders. In 1895 the Queensland government appointed William Parry-Okeden to replace David Seymour as leader of the QPF. He in turn made Frederic Urquhart head of the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB). Dissatisfaction with the CIB's handling of some homicide cases prompted the government to appoint a Royal Commission in 1899. Finding that patronage was causing tensions in the QPF, the Royal Commission censured both Parry-Okeden and Urquhart and recommended that senior appointments and promotions be based on merit. The subsequent career of Urquhart demonstrates the persistence of patronage in Queensland's police force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipalities in Lebanon represent local governments at the basic community level. The proximity of the municipality to the local community and its knowledge of available resources, can be crucial in easing the impact of any disaster. This study aimed to document the range of preparedness/reactivity of municipalities as COVID-19 swept through Lebanon. A qualitative case study was implemented to explore municipal response to control the epidemic, using in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty-seven stakeholders from nine municipalities across all governorates in Lebanon. In each municipality, participants included mayors/deputy mayors, available members of municipal councils, prominent community leaders, health care professionals, and managers of local NGOs. The collected data were analyzed using the comparative thematic analysis. The socioecological model was adopted to illustrate the dynamic interplay between the barriers and facilitators at all ecological levels. The response to the pandemic differed significantly in volume and nature among different municipalities across regions, with rural areas clearly disadvantaged in terms of adequacy and completeness of response. Barriers consistently mentioned by most municipalities included economic collapse and poverty, shortage in resources, lack of support from the central government, stigma, lack of awareness, underreporting, flaws in the MOPH surveillance system, impeded accessibility to healthcare services, limited number and weak role of municipal police, increased mental illnesses, and political patronage, favoritism, and interference. On the other hand, increased donations, community engagement, social support and empathy, sufficient human resources, the effective role of healthcare systems, and good governance were identified as key facilitators. The socioecological model identified several multi-level facilitators and loopholes which can be addressed through a suggested strategic "roadmap" providing evidence-based interventions for future epidemics. It is crucial meanwhile that the central government strengthens the administrative and financial resources of municipalities in preparing and rapidly deploying the expected optimal response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]