The Politics of Patronage Appointments in Latin American Central Administrations

The Politics of Patronage in Latin American Central Administrations is a very different book from almost all others so far published on the state and the public sector in Latin America, as it offers us a much-needed new view on patronage and the civil service, and their relation with governance. No doubt, its groundbreaking approach, research, and conclusions will have an important impact on the discussion of politics, government, and the public sector in this region as well as others of the developing world.

In Latin American countries, the politics of patronage has historically been fraught with negative connotations. This book offers a novel theoretical approach and hypotheses for analyzing the different roles played by political appointees. It shows that trust and political and technical competence are more relevant criteria than clientelism or patrimonialism. The Politics of Patronage Appointments in Latin American Central Administrations really produces novel knowledge about patronage, political parties, and officeholders in the Latin American public administration.

This volume is a challenge to many negative assumptions we hold about motivations and consequences of patronage appointments in public bureaucracies. Drawing on a carefully defined analytical framework as well as original comparative survey data from Latin America, the authors demonstrate the complexity of motivations when political patrons make appointments, and the myriad of roles patronage appointees can play, even in the region with a strong tradition of patronage and clientelism in public life.