Populism and patronage : why populists win elections in India, Asia, and beyond / Paul D. Kenny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kenny, Paul D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Populism.

Patronage, Political.

Physical Description:

x, 234 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Populist rule is bad for democracy, yet in country after country, populists are being voted into office. Populism and Patronage shows that populists such as Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi win elections when the institutionalized ties between non-populist parties and voters decay. Yet, the explanations for this decay differ across different types of party system. Populism and Patronage focuses on the particular vulnerability of patronage-based party systems to populism. Patronage-based systems are ones in which parties depend on the distribution of patronage through a network of brokers to mobilize voters. Drawing on principal agent theory and social network theory, this book argues that an increase in broker autonomy weakens the ties between patronage parties and voters, making the latter available for direct mobilization by populists. Decentralization is thus a major factor behind populist success in patronage democracies. Volume argues that populists exploit the breakdown in national patronage networks by connecting directly with the people through the media and mass rallies, avoiding or minimizing the use of deeply institutionalized party structures. This book not only reinterprets the recurrent appeal of populism in India, but also offers a more general theory of populist electoral support, which is tested using qualitative and quantitative data on cases from across Asia and around the world, including Indonesia, Japan, Venezuela, and Peru. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Puzzle of Populism 1

Introduction 1

Why Do Populists Win Elections? 8

Research Strategy and Plan of the Book 16

2 Understanding Populism and Why It Matters 23

Introduction 23

What is Populism? 24

Populism as Ideology 24

Populism as Mobilization 28

Populism as a Party Type 30

Parties and Party Systems 34

Populism and Democracy 39

Conclusion 46

3 A Theory of Populist Success in Patronage Democracies 47

Introduction 47

Broker Autonomy, Party-Voter Linkages, and the Populist Alternative 48

The Sources of Broker Autonomy: A Strong and a Weak Theory 56

Why Not Programmatic Transitions? 59

Conclusion 62

4 The Emergence of India's Patronage-Based Party System 63

Introduction 63

Late Colonialism 64

Decolonization and Independence 68

The Congress System 71

Centralized Control in a Patronage-Based Party System 75

Conclusion 80

5 Broker Autonomy and the End of Indian National Congress Party Dominance 81

Introduction 81

Economic Decline and Party-System Crisis 83

Nehru's Death and the Autonomy of State Brokers 88

Congress Factionalism and Party-System Fragmentation 94

Conclusion 98

6 India's Turn to Populism 100

Introduction 100

The Prelude to Populism: Reestablishing Central Control 102

The Turn to Populism 105

Populism and Indian Democracy 114

Conclusion 122

7 Regionalism and the Rise of the Populist Far Right in India 123

Introduction 123

The Rise of Regional Parties and the Entrenchment of Political Fragmentation 125

The Modi Wave 132

Conclusion 140

8 Testing the Causal Mechanisms in Additional Cases 142

Introduction 142

Populist Success in Asia 142

Institutional Change and Populist Mobilization in Indonesia 142

Delayed Populism in Japan 150

Populism in Latin America 156

Conclusion 163

9 Populism and Patronage: Cross-national Evidence 165

Introduction 165

Empirical Strategy 166

The Data 169

Results 172

Conclusion 177

10 Conclusion 179

Introduction 179

Patronage, Broker Autonomy, and Party Systems 181

Studying Populism and Party Systems 184

Final Thoughts 186.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-222) and index.

ISBN:

9780198807872

0198807872

OCLC:

983824497