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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Ideology Versus Clientelism: Modernization And Electoral Competition In Brazil, Cássio Da Silva Muniz
Ideology Versus Clientelism: Modernization And Electoral Competition In Brazil, Cássio Da Silva Muniz
Theses and Dissertations
This study investigates how parties utilize the political dimensions of ideology (left-right) and clientelism (programmatic-patronage) to compete electorally in developing democracies. It proposes a combined utility theory, which suggests polarized competitive elections in modernizing national electoral markets compel programmatic parties to coalesce with clientelistic parties to gain access to regional private electoral markets. Methodologically, this study draws on a mixed-method approach focusing on Brazil as a crucial test case. It applies spatial voting models to assess the validity of ideological competition as well as geospatial voting distribution based on clustering and dispersion to devise a new quantitative measurement of clientelism …
Microfinance And Poverty Reduction: How Risks Associated With Government Policies Affect Whether Microfinance Alleviates Poverty In Latin-America, Brian Warby
Theses and Dissertations
The expansion of financial services to the poor, now widely referred to as microfinance, quickly saw tremendous success in Bangladesh beginning in the 1970's and was exported to a number of other countries. For a time microfinance was spoken of as a panacea, in part because it is more detached from governments than other forms of poverty alleviation. I develop a model based on expected utility theory that looks at how risks associated with government policies and characteristics affect whether this mechanism eases poverty. Using a large N analysis of Latin-American states from 1990-2010 and a case study analysis to …