Patronage Network Analysis
Patronage network analysis is a relational pipeline for representing patron-client politics as a directed network and measuring its structure with the tools of social network analysis. Building on James C. Scott's 1972 account of patron-client politics in Southeast Asia and Eisenstadt and Roniger's 1984 comparative study of clientelism and trust, the approach treats the vertical, asymmetric bond between a powerful patron and a dependent client — typically mediated by brokers — as the elementary tie. By coding who is connected to whom, in which direction, and with what resource content, the analyst can compute centrality, brokerage, and structural-hole measures to reveal the pyramidal architecture through which protection and resources flow down and loyalty and support flow up.
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Sources
- Scott, J. C. (1972). Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia. American Political Science Review, 66(1), 91-113. DOI: 10.2307/1959280 ↗
- Eisenstadt, S. N., & Roniger, L. (1984). Patrons, Clients and Friends: Interpersonal Relations and the Structure of Trust in Society. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521288781
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Patronage Network Analysis (Patron-Client Network Structure). ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/political-economy/patronage-network-analysis
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