Power, politics and progress: Rethinking clientelism and state capacity in the Global South

Join us for an engaging seminar exploring the intricate relationship between clientelist politics and economic development. 

The session will delve into how clientelism influences pro-poor redistribution, state-society relations, and electoral policy-making. Drawing on insights from a recent special issue in World development (2024):178, Miguel Niño-Zarazúa will reflect on the impact of clientelism on governance, corruption, and state capacity while exploring key questions regarding the coexistence of clientelism and programmatic policies and the role of brokers in clientelist regimes.

About the speaker

Miguel Niño-Zarazúa is a Reader in Development Economics at SOAS University of London and a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER. He is an international expert on poverty, inequality, and welfare institutions in the Global South, with extensive research at the intersection of labour markets, social protection systems, and the political economy of state capacity and redistribution. 

His work focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia. Miguel has served as an advisor to international organizations, including the World Bank, UNICEF, the ILO, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the European Commission. He has also provided advisory support to donor agencies such as Sida, Danida, the UK’s FCDO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and various governments in Latin America and Africa.

This event is part of the SOAS Global Development Seminar Series, hosted by DevTraC.