Buying Audiences
Clientelism and Electoral Campaigns When Parties Are Weak

Develops a new theory of how politicians campaign and deploy electoral clientelism in weak party systems.

Paula Muñoz (Author)

9781108422598, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2018

314 pages, 20 b/w illus. 35 tables
23.4 x 15.6 x 2.2 cm, 0.56 kg

'Politicians hand out microwaves, cement, and cash, even when they lack strong parties to guarantee that gifts translate into votes. Paula Muñoz provides a highly original account of how politicians provide goods not to buy off voters, but to gain attention from the media, campaign donors, and voters. The rich evidence reveals how vote buying and political campaigning are deeply intertwined in much of the developing world, and how democracy works - with a few extra gifts on the side - without political parties.' Alisha C. Holland, Princeton University, New Jersey

Scholars typically emphasize the importance of organized networks and long-term relationships for sustaining electoral clientelism. Yet electoral clientelism remains widespread in many countries despite the weakening of organized parties. This book offers a new account of how clientelism and campaigning work in weak party systems and in the absence of stable party-broker relationships. Drawing on an in-depth study of Peru using a mixed methods approach and cross-national comparisons, Muñoz reveals the informational and indirect effects of investments made at the campaign stage. By distributing gifts, politicians buy the participation of poor voters at campaign events. This helps politicians improvise political organizations, persuade poor voters of candidates' desirability, and signal electoral viability to strategic donors and voters, with campaign dynamics ultimately shaping electoral outcomes. Among other contributions, the book sheds new light on role of donations and business actors and on ongoing challenges to party building.

1. Introduction
2. An informational theory of electoral clientelism
3. Clientelistic linkages in Peru and the limits of conventional explanations
4. Convoking voters and establishing electoral viability
5. Influence from the citizens' point of view
6. Analyzing campaigns
7. Conclusions
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Sociology [JHB]