Patronage And Power

The essays in this volume, from those that look at patronage from a theoretical perspective as it relates to issues such as gender, social and economic history, to individual case studies, highlight our need to look at the subject anew.

Power and Patronage examines the unwritten rules and inner workings of contemporary China's local politics and government. It exposes how these rules have helped to keep the one-Party state together during decades of tumultuous political, social, and economic change. While many observers of Chinese politics have recognized the importance of informal institutions, this book explains how informal local groups actually operate, paying special attention to the role of patronage networks in political decision-making, political competition, and official corruption. While patronage networks are often seen as a parasite on the formal institutions of state, Hillman shows that patronage politics actually help China's political system function. In a system characterized by fragmented authority, personal power relations, and bureaucratic indiscipline, patronage networks play a critical role in facilitating policy coordination and bureaucratic bargaining. They also help to regulate political competition within the state, which reduces the potential for open conflict. Understanding patronage networks is essential for understanding the resilience of the Chinese state through decades of change. Power and Patronage is filled with rich and fascinating accounts of the machinations of patronage networks and their role in the ruthless and sometimes violent competition for political power.

From 1 Corinthians we know that the church at Corinth was beset by all sorts of problems. Some of these problems resulted from contacts with the pagan world - one member of the church cohabited with his stepmother, one brought a suit against another brother before the pagan magistrate, some ate idolatrous feasts at the pagan temple, and others underwent baptism for the dead. This refreshing and stimulating book seeks to understand the significance of these problems from the perspective of the social structures and conditions of this Graeco-Roman city, and places Paul's response to them in the same context.

Through the use of private letters, official documents and personal observations, the author examines the provincial and national use of patronage, from Sir John A. Macdonald's "purchase" of Nova Scotia's opponent of Confederation to the scandal-plagued Mulroney cabinet.

"This book turns the argument about aid effectiveness on its head. Since development assistance is inherently self-interested, a source of soft power, political manipulation and commercial opportunity, its real effectiveness could arguably be judged by the strength of donor influence and not by development impact. Its subjective nature means that its impact on development is often weak, mainly short-term and confined to limited and specific contexts. Aid as influence was prevalent during the Cold War era. The connection is equally strong in this century's newly bipolar world in which the contest is between western donors led by the USA, and China which is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure as a means of influence in the global South. Influence permeates both bilateral and multilateral aid and in parallel with official aid, the rise of global philanthropy has seen it taken up by some of today's billionaires. The response by donors to the growing havoc caused by the three Cs - conflict, climate change and COVID - confirms the main findings of the book, which concludes by outlining what aid without influence would look like. This book draws on the author's 40 years of experience of the aid industry and will be essential reading for development students, practitioners and policy makers alike"--

Although Marguerite de Navarre's unique position in sixteenth-century France has long been acknowledged and she is one of the most studied women of the time, until now no study has focused attention on Marguerite's political life. Barbara Stephenson here fills the gap, delineating Marguerite's formal political position and highlighting her actions as a figure with the opportunity to exercise power through both official and unofficial channels. Through Marguerite's surviving correspondence, Stephenson traces the various networks through which this French noblewoman exercised the power available to her to further the careers of political and religious clients, as well as her struggle to protect the interests of her brother the king and those of her own family and household. The analysis of Marguerite's activities sheds light on noble society as a whole.

This book examines the Italy of the 1980s, which represents an unparalleled example of dualistic development - deeply divided between North and South.

The Cecils were the dominant noble family in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. William, Lord Burghley rose to power and great wealth under Elizabeth I, then used his extensive patronage and exceptional breadth of interests to advance the Cecils' remarkable political and cultural pre-eminence. This wide-ranging collection of essays draws on architectural and art history, court studies, English literature, garden history, musicology, economic history, and women's studies. The extensive building programme of William, Lord Burghley and his son Robert, Earl of Salisbury was the most spectacular of the 16th and early 17th centuries, and much of it, particularly Burghley House and Hatfield House, still survives. Their encouragement of new processes of manufacturing was, like their splendid houses, innovative, forward-looking and highly influential. The Cecils were also innovative patrons of the arts. They were pioneers in the vogue for collecting paintings; patrons of musicians such as John Dowland and writers such as Ben Jonson; and introduced new styles of Renaissance design into gardens and interiors. The Cecil women, too, were influential in both political and cultural spheres. The no