The Mediator's Dilemma: Clientelism Or Political Representation In Argentina's Political Landscape

Abstract

The article aims to examine and question the category of “clientelism” in its instrumental meaning , in light of the empirical study of the activities of political mediators in a province in northern Argentina. Through a qualitative methodological approach, the daily activity of leaders with different elective positions is studied . It shows how the role of mediators not only involves individuals and particular groups, but also social and territorial collectives, the object of the distribution of public goods that produce collective benefits. It is argued that the choice of the recipients of the goods hardly coincides with the simple cost-benefit evaluation that the instrumental notion of clientelism supposes , since it rather implies a work of reconstruction and production of the specific problems of the members of the electoral bases . The way of distributing resources is filtered by the person of the mediator .