Unpacking rural-urban clientelist networks

Majid, Hadia and Shami, Mahvish ORCID: 0000-0001-6550-5120 (2024) Unpacking rural-urban clientelist networks. Oxford Development Studies, 52 (2). 160 - 178. ISSN 1360-0818

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Abstract

Despite the importance of public goods provisioning for poverty reduction, empirical evidence shows gross under-provision of state resources in developing countries. This results in the establishment of clientelist networks between people of unequal social status. However, clientelism is not homogenous. It varies based on the environment in which it is cultivated. Using household-level data from villages and urban slums in Pakistan, we provide a rare direct comparison of rural and urban clientelism. We find that the clientelist exchange bundle varies depending on geography and settlement structure (landholding patterns in villages and legal status in slums). While rural brokers include public goods provisioning in their exchange bundle, urban brokers have to rely on more personal services to maintain their network. Our main finding then is that rural clientelist networks are more pervasive, vary in nature, and perform more functions than their urban counterparts.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cods20
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	International Development
Subjects:	J Political Science G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) H Social Sciences
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2024 15:00
Last Modified:	19 Nov 2024 04:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123923

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