Powerful individuals often influence the delivery of government services for their own purposes. Officials may prefer inherently to direct assistance to their own relatives and social contacts (nepotistic preferences). Alternatively, they may use government services strategically in exchange for favors (patronage) or to gain voter support (clientelism). Most existing literature examines these three phenomena separately, or does not distinguish the motivations for politicians’ influence on distribution. Causal identification has also been a problem in the empirical literature. In the first chapter of this thesis, I develop a theoretical model of interaction between three levels of actors: politicians, local patrons, and households. The model allows for politicians and patrons to influence government services for nepotistic, clientelistic, and patronage purposes. In chapters 2-4, I test the predictions of the model using two novel household survey datasets I collected along with my collaborators in rural Punjab, Pakistan. Chapter 2 tests the theoretical predictions for the interaction of politicians, patrons and voters. Chapters 3 and 4 provide quasi-experimental evidence on the causal effect of links with politicians on assistance. I find evidence that politicians exert dramatic influence on the targeting of government assistance in this setting. Consistent with the theoretical model, the most assistance goes to a small “inner circle” of their closest contacts. Politicians assist this “inner circle” based on their inherent preferences, regardless of electoral pressure. When politicians face electoral pressure, they also deliver assistance to a wider group, in particular members of the same clan. In contrast, local patrons do not appear to have significant independent influence over the targeting of the government assistance programs I study, but they do provide other types of assistance to households. Their behavior is more consistent with the idea that they are motivated by inherent preferences for assisting their contacts. The results have implications for the interpretation of empirical literature on nepotism, clientelism, and patronage. They can also inform the policies of donor agencies and civil society organizations who aim to engage or pressure governments to reduce corruption and improve public spending.

Title of Thesis¡GThe Effect of Taiwan Local Factions on Local Election¡XA Case Study on Fongsan City in Kaohsiung County Department¡GIn-service Master Program, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies for Social Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University Professor¡GDr. Chang, Tao-Yi Graduate Student¡GWu, Chu-Hui Key words¡Glocal factions, election, change of ruling parties, political domain, patronage-clientelism, multiple-party trend Election is a symbol of universal value of democratization. The birth of local factions in Taiwan is closely related to election. Ever since the move to Taiwan, the government of National Party (Kuomintang), with the intention to solidify its political power, took the united and monopolized economic interests in different districts as the conditions to exchange for local powers or the devotion of political loyalty from the leaders of different ideas. For a long time these people with actual local power have been training a lot of ¡§pile legs¡¨ and loyal supporters. With the help of them, a gigantic social relationship network is established. After that, through elections, they enter the local governments of different townships in various counties and cities, or step on the stage of the parliament, thus forming influential political power. The basic function of local factions is exerted on election. In the process of election, local factions play a pushing role in the political participation, and monopolize the local political and social resources. Nevertheless, after local factions have gone through the change of ruling parties and the rearrangement of political domains in the year 2000, whether the patronage-clientelism has any subtle changes subsequently caused is worthy of making in-depth observation. Kaohsiung County is a place of origin for democratization of Taiwan, and Fongshan City is a major township with political and economic influences in Kaohsiung County. With the change of ruling parties and under the impacts of financial reforms, the thesis mainly investigates the past and current situations of local factions in Fongshan City, and expects to further clarify whether factions will develop towards the multiple-party trend.

The aim of this thesis is to explore how livelihoods are recovering in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka through the lens of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the social networks approach—methods of inquiry that have gained considerable impetus in livelihoods research. The study is conducted with reference to two tsunami-affected fisher villages in the Hambantota District, Southern Province. It employs a qualitative ethnographic methodology that examines narratives emerging from households, local officials of government and non-government organizations, office bearers of community-based organizations, local politicians, village leaders, and key informants. Focus is on evaluating how particular roles, activities, and behaviour are given importance by these groups in specific post-tsunami contexts and how these aspects relate to broader conceptualizations of social networks, informal politics, social inequality, and ethnographic research in South Asia. The findings support four major contributions to the literature. First, social networks are significant as an object of study and a method of inquiry in understanding livelihoods post-disaster. Second, paying heed to varied forms of informal politics is critical in post-disaster analyses. Third, the concept of intersectionality can extend and improve upon prevailing approaches to social inequality in disaster recovery. Fourth, ethnographic research is valuable for understanding everyday networks, informal politics, and change in South Asia. Collectively, these findings present a human geography of post-tsunami livelihoods in Sri Lanka, where networks, politics, and inequalities, which form an essential part of everyday livelihoods, have been reproduced in disaster recovery. The thesis constitutes a means of offering expertise in the sphere of development practice, highlighting internal differentiation in access to aid as a key issue that needs to be identified and systematically addressed by policymakers and practitioners.