LATEST UPDATES:
> Sergiu Gherghina and Clara Volintiru, “Budgetary Clientelism and Decentralization in Hungary and Romania”, Journal of Developing Societies, 2023, online first.
> Sergiu Gherghina and Raluca Luțai, “More than Users: How Political Parties Shape the Acceptance of Electoral Clientelism”, Party Politics, 2023, online first.
> Sergiu Gherghina and Raluca Luțai, “Who Accepts Electoral Clientelism? The Role of Personality Traits in Romania”, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 2023, online first.
> Sergiu Gherghina and Paul Tap, “Buying Loyalty: Volatile Voters and Electoral Clientelism”, Politics, 2022, online first.
> Sergiu Gherghina and Clara Volintiru, “Clientelism and Political Parties”, The Routledge Handbook of Political Parties, edited by Neil Carter, Daniel Keith, Gyda M. Sindre and Sofia Vasilopoulou, London: Routledge, 2022.
> Sergiu Gherghina and Inga Saikkonen, “Party Attachment and Electoral Clientelism: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment”, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), 15-18 September 2022, Montreal.
>> The International Conference (online) organized by the project team on the theme of the project, with the topic “Corruption and Clientelism: Exploring Recent Developments” on 18-19 August 2022 included 24 presentations from scholars at Abo Akademi University Finland, Babeș-Bolyai University, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Central European University, Catholic University of Korea, Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Centre for Social Sciences Budapest, Debrecen University, Leiden University, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration Bucharest, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje, University of Belgrade, University of Coimbra, University of Flensburg, University of Florence, University of Glasgow, University of Lapland, University of Oxford, University of Tirana, University of Wroclaw.
Clientelism is the mechanism through which political parties and candidates use public and private resources to cement their electoral support in society. It involves the exchange of various goods, targeted funds, or development projects for votes. While much research focused on how clientelism works and on its consequences, limited attention has been paid to understanding why clientelism emerges.
This project aims to explain the variation of clientelism at county level in Romania.
This country is a representative case in Central and Eastern Europe, clientelism is used regularly by political parties, and the Romanian electorate remains open to electoral competitors.
It argues and tests the potential effects of five explanations: party organization, electoral strategies, private donations, economic development and demand for clientelism.
It controls for incumbency, losing votes, and media use.
The analysis is conducted at county level and combines quantitative and qualitative methods.
The project is funded by the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) for the period 2020-2022, project number: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0460.