Clientilism (Answer in 150 words)

- Clientilism (Answer in 150 words)
Introduction
Clientelism is a linkage in which political support is exchanged for divisible, contingent benefits. It is personalised, iterative and asymmetric — the opposite of programmatic representation.

Body
1. The classic definition: James Scott (1972) described patron-client politics as a dyadic tie of unequal exchange, held by reciprocity and dependence rather than ideology.
2. The linkage typology: Kitschelt and Wilkinson's Patrons, Clients and Policies (2007) sets clientelistic against programmatic linkage, with parties choosing by cost and capacity.
3. The machine: Tammany Hall, Italy's Christian Democracy and Mexico's PRI show clientelism organising entire party systems, not merely stray transactions.
4. The monitoring problem: the secret ballot makes compliance unverifiable, which is why brokers matter; Susan Stokes calls their leverage perverse accountability.
5. The Indian form: Kanchan Chandra's Why Ethnic Parties Succeed (2004) argues that in a patronage democracy, ethnic head-counting is a rational way of predicting access.

Conclusion
Clientelism buys inclusion at the price of entitlement. Direct benefit transfers and Aadhaar have cut broker discretion in India, but the personalisation of welfare survived the change of plumbing.