Agents or Bosses? : ECPR Press : 9781907301261 : 1907301267 : 01 Dec 2012 : Clientelism in public employment --the practice of offering jobs in return for political favours to a party or politician--is a problem from the perspectives of equality, democratic accountability and economic efficiency. Focusing on intra-party competition, this book presents an original explanation of why some politicians and parties engage more extensively in such practices than others. Examining Argentina and Turkey in a period of economic restructuring, the author argues that patronage jobs are distributed hierarchically to the politicians' circle within the party. Consequently, the distribution of patronage is affected by competition for party leadership. Analysis of original statistical and case study data at the subnational level confirms that clientelistic practices are influenced by party characteristics. Kemahlioglu's research reveals a surprising and counter-intuitive conclusion; that when party sup