Prebendalism refers to
political systems
In political science, a political system means the form of Political organisation, political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state (polity), state.
It defines the process for making official gov ...
in which
elected officials and
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
workers feel they have a right to a share of government revenues, and they use them to benefit supporters, co-religionists and members of their
ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
.
Origins of the term
''
The Catholic Encyclopedia
''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
'' defines a
prebend
A prebendary is a member of the Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir ...
as the "right of member of chapter to his share in the revenues of a cathedral".
Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
used the term to describe India and China in the early Middle Ages in his 1915 book, ''The Religion of China'' and his 1916 book, ''The Religion of India''.
[Max Weber, ''The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism'' (Free Press, 1958), pp 70–71, as quoted by Immanuel Wallerstein in ''The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century'' (University of California Press, 2011)]
Alavi describes how state-derived rights over capital held by state officials in parts of India in the early 18th Century were held to be of a patron-client nature and thus volatile. They were thus converted where possible into hereditary entitlements.
In Nigeria
Richard A. Joseph, director of The Program of African Studies at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, is usually credited with first using the term to describe patron-clientelism or
neopatrimonialism in
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
. Since then the term has commonly been used in scholarly literature and textbooks.
Joseph wrote in 1996, "According to the theory of prebendalism, state offices are regarded as prebends that can be appropriated by officeholders, who use them to generate material benefits for themselves and their constituents and kin groups..."
As a result of that kind of patron–client or
identity politics
Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...
, Nigeria has regularly been one of the lowest ranked nations for political transparency by
Transparency International
Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...
in its
Corruption Perceptions Index
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
.
Other uses include the corruption investigations into the activities of 31 out of 36 Nigerian governors, the frequent comments in the Nigerian press about the problems of corruption (for example, Victor E. Dike's article in the ''Daily Champion'' of Lagos, "Nigeria: Governance and Nigeria's Ailing Economy") and the common defenses of prebendalism as necessary for justice and equality in government funding (for example Oliver O. Mbamara's editorial, "In Defense of Nigeria: Amidst the Feasting of Critics" at ''Africa Events)''.
[Mbamara, Oliver O., "In Defense of Nigeria: Amidst the Feasting of Critics," ''Africa Events'', http://www.africanevents.com/Essay-InDefenseOfNigeria0606.htm ]
See also
*
Clientelism
Clientelism or client politics is the exchange of goods and services for political support, often involving an implicit or explicit ''quid-pro-quo''. It is closely related to patronage politics and vote buying.
Clientelism involves an asymmetri ...
*
Neopatrimonialism
*
Patronage in ancient Rome
Patronage (''clientela'') was the distinctive relationship in Social class in ancient Rome, ancient Roman society between the ''patronus'' ('patron') and their ''cliens'' ('client'). Apart from the patron-client relationship between individuals, ...
References
{{Conflict of interest
Politics of Nigeria
Political corruption
Subfields of political science