Ward Berenschot – författare

Clientelism is a prominent feature of many of the world’s democracies and electoral authoritarian regimes. Yet the comparative study of this practice, which involves exchanging personal favours for electoral support, remains strikingly underdeveloped. This book makes the case that clientelistic politics take different forms in different countries, and that this variation matters for understanding democracy, elections, and governance.Involving collaboration by experienced observers of politics in several countries – Mexico, Ghana, Sudan to Turkey, Indonesia, the Philippines, Caribbean and Pacific Island states, and Malaysia – the chapters in this volume unpack the concept of clientelism and show that it is possible to identify different types of patronage democracies. The book proposes a comparative framework that focuses on the networks that politicians use, the type of resources they hand out, their degree of control over the distribution of state resources, and shows that the comparative study of a key informal dimension of politics offers much analytical promise for scholars of democracy and governance.Varieties of Clientelism is essential reading for scholars and students interested in clientelism, patronage democracies, comparative political economy, as well as party politics. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Democratization.

Clientelism is a prominent feature of many of the world’s democracies and electoral authoritarian regimes. Yet the comparative study of this practice, which involves exchanging personal favours for electoral support, remains strikingly underdeveloped. This book makes the case that clientelistic politics take different forms in different countries, and that this variation matters for understanding democracy, elections, and governance.Involving collaboration by experienced observers of politics in several countries – Mexico, Ghana, Sudan to Turkey, Indonesia, the Philippines, Caribbean and Pacific Island states, and Malaysia – the chapters in this volume unpack the concept of clientelism and show that it is possible to identify different types of patronage democracies. The book proposes a comparative framework that focuses on the networks that politicians use, the type of resources they hand out, their degree of control over the distribution of state resources, and shows that the comparative study of a key informal dimension of politics offers much analytical promise for scholars of democracy and governance.Varieties of Clientelism is essential reading for scholars and students interested in clientelism, patronage democracies, comparative political economy, as well as party politics. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Democratization.

This book examines how states and corporations across the Global South acquire land, identifying distinct patterns of expropriation and resistance. Across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, economic growth in sectors such as mining, agribusiness, energy, infrastructure, and real estate is driving far-reaching land-use change. Yet the processes of dispossession that underpin these transformations vary considerably. It introduces a comparative framework to explain how legal mechanisms, coercion, and state–business alliances combine in different ways to shape land conflicts.Drawing on detailed case studies—including India's solar parks, Indonesia's palm oil plantations, Cambodia's real estate developments, East Timor's oil and gas projects, and Brazil's land mafias—the contributors highlight three distinct regimes of dispossession: state-led expropriation, curtailed land rights, and decentralised coercion. By comparing these patterns across contexts, the book deepens understanding of how dispossession is organised and resisted, while offering insight into the broader political economy of land-use change.This book is essential reading for scholars, researchers, and students in development studies, political economy, agrarian studies, geography, and sociology. It will also appeal to policymakers, civil society organizations, and activists engaged with land rights, resource governance, and social justice issues in the Global South.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Globalizations.

Democracy for Sale is an on-the-ground account of Indonesian democracy, analyzing its election campaigns and behind-the-scenes machinations. Edward Aspinall and Ward Berenschot assess the informal networks and political strategies that shape access to power and privilege in the messy political environment of contemporary Indonesia.In post-Suharto Indonesian politics the exchange of patronage for political support is commonplace. Clientelism, argue the authors, saturates the political system, and in Democracy for Sale they reveal the everyday practices of vote buying, influence peddling, manipulating government programs, and skimming money from government projects. In doing so, Aspinall and Berenschot advance three major arguments. The first argument points toward the role of religion, kinship, and other identities in Indonesian clientelism. The second explains how and why Indonesia's distinctive system of free-wheeling clientelism came into being. And the third argument addresses variation in the patterns and intensity of clientelism. Through these arguments and with comparative leverage from political practices in India and Argentina, Democracy for Sale provides compelling evidence of the importance of informal networks and relationships rather than formal parties and institutions in contemporary Indonesia.

Democracy for Sale is an on-the-ground account of Indonesian democracy, analyzing its election campaigns and behind-the-scenes machinations. Edward Aspinall and Ward Berenschot assess the informal networks and political strategies that shape access to power and privilege in the messy political environment of contemporary Indonesia.In post-Suharto Indonesian politics the exchange of patronage for political support is commonplace. Clientelism, argue the authors, saturates the political system, and in Democracy for Sale they reveal the everyday practices of vote buying, influence peddling, manipulating government programs, and skimming money from government projects. In doing so, Aspinall and Berenschot advance three major arguments. The first argument points toward the role of religion, kinship, and other identities in Indonesian clientelism. The second explains how and why Indonesia's distinctive system of free-wheeling clientelism came into being. And the third argument addresses variation in the patterns and intensity of clientelism. Through these arguments and with comparative leverage from political practices in India and Argentina, Democracy for Sale provides compelling evidence of the importance of informal networks and relationships rather than formal parties and institutions in contemporary Indonesia.

Rightless Resistance investigates why resistance to land grabbing so often fails. The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations has triggered widespread conflict across rural Indonesia as communities lose their land with little compensation. Based on an unprecedented study of 150 such conflicts, this book uncovers how villagers fight back against palm oil companies, and what their struggles reveal about power, law, and citizenship in postcolonial Indonesia.Enduring colonial legacies and collusive politics have left rural Indonesians virtually rightless, so villagers turn to customary traditions and social norms instead of formal law – a strategy that rarely gets results. By analyzing this resistance to corporate land grabbing, Ward Berenschot, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Afrizal, and Otto Hospes offer a new perspective on why land rights movements often fall short. When the legal system is unreliable, people aim lower – and the deeper power imbalances facilitating their dispossession go unchallenged.

Rightless Resistance investigates why resistance to land grabbing so often fails. The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations has triggered widespread conflict across rural Indonesia as communities lose their land with little compensation. Based on an unprecedented study of 150 such conflicts, this book uncovers how villagers fight back against palm oil companies, and what their struggles reveal about power, law, and citizenship in postcolonial Indonesia.Enduring colonial legacies and collusive politics have left rural Indonesians virtually rightless, so villagers turn to customary traditions and social norms instead of formal law – a strategy that rarely gets results. By analyzing this resistance to corporate land grabbing, Ward Berenschot, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Afrizal, and Otto Hospes offer a new perspective on why land rights movements often fall short. When the legal system is unreliable, people aim lower—and the deeper power imbalances facilitating their dispossession go unchallenged.