Patronage Networks Quotes

The captains of the [political] system become the captives of the system.

In some of the countries where we operate, there is a tradition of corruption, in which the political elites work with business in the framework of unsavory relationships.

Party government isn't organized for efficiency, nor to serve the people. It is organized to provide jobs for the boys

Nigerian politics has been, since the military dictatorships, largely non-ideological. Rather than a battle of ideas, it is about who can pump in the most money and buy the most access.

Political authority is problematic in Africa because of the blurry dividing line between the public and the private realm. Formal rules matter less than a series of informal institutions that regulate politics.

I found that the corridors of power in Delhi were littered with lobbies of various kinds.

Zedillo's lack of political savvy is a personal flaw. But his insulated and elitist governing style reflect the age-old vices of the political system itself.

In the Middle East there are two methods of control: mass repression and mass bribery. In Syria they use mass repression; in Saudi Arabia, mass bribery. In Bahrain, a bit of both.

In Irish politics personal friendships are as strong and binding as public principle is weak.

The Portuguese are, as you say, a most inconceivable set of selfish politicians

There is almost no country in Africa where it is not essential to know to which tribe, or which subgroup of which tribe, the president belongs. From this single piece of information you can trace the lines of patronage and allegiance that define the state.

Political parties, wherever they have developed, are … the outgrowths of family and of the family-based relationship between the strongman and his clients.