Scholars typically emphasize the importance of organized networks and long-term relationships for sustaining electoral clientelism. Yet electoral clientelism remains widespread in many countries despite the weakening of organized parties. This book offers a new account of how clientelism and campaigning work in weak party systems and in the absence of stable party-broker relationships. Drawing on an in-depth study of Peru using a mixed methods approach and cross-national comparisons, Muñoz reveals the informational and indirect effects of investments made at the campaign stage. By distributing gifts, politicians buy the participation of poor voters at campaign events. This helps politicians improvise political organizations, persuade poor voters of candidates' desirability, and signal electoral viability to strategic donors and voters, with campaign dynamics ultimately shaping electoral outcomes. Among other contributions, the book sheds new light on role of donations and business actors and on ongoing challenges to party building.

‘In this extraordinary book, Muñoz introduces a reconceptualization of clientelism, which will reshape our understanding of electoral behavior in new democracies. Using a multi-method research design that includes survey experiments, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and case study comparisons, Muñoz shows how politicians lacking strong party organizations use handouts to boost their rallies. She then shows that rallies, and not handouts, influence electoral behavior. This book is a ‘must-read' for any student of electoral behavior, democracy, and Latin American politics.'

M. Victoria Murillo - Columbia University, New York

‘Paula Muñoz persuasively shows how clientelism works in the absence of political parties, testing the argument through an impressive and thorough mixed-methods strategy that embeds intensive fieldwork (ethnography, in-depth interviews) and survey experiments in a sub-national comparison. The crisis of political parties elsewhere makes the argument travel widely, well beyond the scope of Peruvian politics. The unusual combination of theoretical scope, methodological sophistication, and substantive relevance make this book an essential reference for the years to come.'

Juan Pablo Luna - Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

‘Politicians hand out microwaves, cement, and cash, even when they lack strong parties to guarantee that gifts translate into votes. Paula Muñoz provides a highly original account of how politicians provide goods not to buy off voters, but to gain attention from the media, campaign donors, and voters. The rich evidence reveals how vote buying and political campaigning are deeply intertwined in much of the developing world, and how democracy works - with a few extra gifts on the side - without political parties.'

Alisha C. Holland - Princeton University, New Jersey