modes of interaction were cultivated during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, resulting in
principles such as giri(owing somebody something
based on moral duties), oyabu–kobun(the “par-
ent” partner enjoying the loyalty of the “child”
partner) or sempa–kòhai(the elder of two col-
leagues, students, schoolmates, and so forth taking
care of the younger and enjoying the latter’s loyalty
and obedience). In societies where seniority plays
an important role, patronage and clientage have
strong repercussions in the political and occupa-
tional arena. The representation of women in
patron functions is rare even today. For most of the
women in such societies, breaking through the
glass ceiling requires a comprehensive restructuring
of the male-dominated organizational arena. There-
fore, it is the more remarkable that Northeast,
Southeast and South Asia are outstanding exam-
ples in terms of the occurrence of female political
top leadership. The succession to the posts of min-
ister, prime minister, president or opposition leader
by women is extraordinary. The shared element of
those women’s career pattern is their dynastic back-
ground, combined with a traditional clientelistic
feature. The obvious importance of dynasties and
elite family lineage even in today’s political life ren-
ders a common theoretical assumption question-
able, namely, the assumption of the decreasing
importance of patronage and clientage in modern
and highly complex societies. Japan and South
Korea are cases in point.
In most Asian societies, patronage and clientage
mingle with a strong prevalence of paternalism in
human interaction. As a general feature of the phe-
nomenon in Asia, the concepts of loyalty and pro-
tection bear a strong meaning. Traditionally women
have been considered to be in need of protection,
which is an argument that also nurtures the fre-
quent understanding among Muslims of the head-
scarf as a piece of cloth providing protection of
women in public life. Men in the role of the patron
outnumber the women in such function by far, but
there are exceptions to the rule, such as the system
of training girls to become the caretaker of ex-
tended elite families in Southeast Asia. Patronage
does not cease to exist when “modern” principles
of social and political organization gain momen-
tum. Conversely, traditional forms, principles, con-
cepts, elements, and mechanisms of clientelism
have been translated into a modern context. There
is certainly a cultural dimension to the phenome-
non, so that the assumption of a connection be-
tween Catholicism and clientelism as claimed in
earlier research bears some truth. Caution should
be employed, however, in ranking the influence of540 patronage and clientage
cultural and religious traditions. It is by no means
established that Islamic societies display a higher
frequency of clientelistic structures than Confucian,
Buddhist, Christian, or Hindu societies. The an-
cient concept of clientelism, with its emphasis on
informality in the legal regard, its individual per-
sonal relationships, and principal of volunteerism,
has widely prevailed until today. Legally registered
procedures such as the adoption of a child are an
exception to the conventional mechanism. For
women, patronage and clientage may imply both
privileges and disadvantages in the pursuit of wel-
fare, status, or social position. Women in a clien-
telistic relation have to cope with different kinds of
problems from men, for example when they are
urged by the patron to deliver sexual services in
exchange for certain privileges. The sanctions for
violating the rules of a clientelistic relationship are
the same for both sexes: since there is no legal basis,
punishment occurs in form of moral degrading such
as public exposure, defamation of character, or
informal tools of social control such as gossip or
ridicule.Bibliography
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R. Lemarchand, Comparative political clientelism. Struc-
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Konzept, Ph.D. diss., University of Zurich 1991.Claudia DerichsTurkeyPatron-client relationships involve at least two
parties and are characterized by enduring, multi-
faceted exchange over time in stratified societies.
While asymmetrical, they are often characterized
by personal warmth and affection (Roniger 2001).
The relationship can be invoked at any time, and
the participants derive from it various forms of
security. For example, a patron may acquire from it
a reliable workforce, and a client economic and
physical security (Platteau 1995). In Turkey women