The patron-client relation is able to offer mutual benefits to both parties that are involved in it. The patron ensures that the client obtains the necessary support in terms of money, food, security and legal support among others. In return, the client ensures that the reputation of the patron is substantially enhanced mainly due to a generous benefaction. Moreover, the client becomes more obedient and loyal to the patron. The other notable characteristic in this relation is that its quality does not really matter to the patron. Instead, the quantity of the client matters a lot to the patron. As such, the manner in which client is treated in this relation is often humiliating and demeaning. This is an indication that the client is always treated as an inferior party in this relation (Yefri, 2014).
The patron-client relation has a characteristic that depicts a master-slavery association. The basis for such a relation is synonymous to that of landholding system. In this case, the patron is in a position to lend the client in terms of seed, money and several other goods whenever the client is in need. In order to pay back, the client offers labor to the patron without receiving any additional payment. In some cases, the client is forced to offer unpaid services as a laborer to the patron as an act of benevolence. Essentially, this scenario could be described as one that involves bondage labor and is largely associated with the economic sense of establishing such relations (Orvis and Drogus, 2015).
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The patron-client relationship may not be consistent with democratic values. This is because the association does not demonstrate the aspect of equality where the interest and needs of both parties are viewed from a similar perspective. In most case, the patron is entitled disproportionate privileges and powers at the expense of the well-being and satisfaction of the client. The inconsistency of this relationship with democratic values considerably depicted in the oppressive direction that it takes at times. Critical democratic values such as justice and liberty are largely unpopular with the patron-client relationship in the sense that patrons often fail to adhere to the principle of fairness and they end up mistreating the client. The desire to support the interests such as political power becomes their central concern to the extent that they lose their consciousness in relation to the democratic values to which their clientele are entitled (Yefri, 2014).
References
Orvis, S. W., & Drogus, C. A. (2015). Introducing comparative politics: Concepts and cases
in context . CQ Press College
Yefri, N. (2014). Patron client relations in managing natural resources during authoritarian
and decentralization system in Indonesia: What is the impact on the rural community in the outer islands? . Antwerpen.
