Why do we still speak of clientelism in Brazil?

Abstract

Unlike coronelism, which lost strength with the advance of the mechanisms of control over the electoral process, or of "mandonismo", which became rare with the affirmation of the political and civil rights in the country, clientelism remained alive throughout the history of the Brazilian democracy. Over time, the actors changed, its presence decreased in certain periods, increased in others, but the exchange of goods of any nature for the voter's vote never ceased to exist. This study is committed to discovering the profile of the voter preferred by the candidates to offer clientelism between the years 2000 and 2010 in Brazil. It uses quantitative methodology and techniques of descriptive statistics and of the relative risk for the analysis. The main results obtained make some of the premises of Political Science and of common sense about this practice, which is so common to Brazilian politics, fall apart.