Client politics is the type of politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 when an organized minority

Minority group

A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

 or interest group benefits at the expense of the public. Client politics may have a strong interaction with the dynamics of identity politics

Identity politics

Identity politics are political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of self-identified social interest groups and ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through race, class, religion, sexual orientation or traditional dominance...

.

This is particularly common in a pluralist system, such as in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where minorities can have considerable power shaping public policy. The opposite of client politics is 'entrepreneurial' politics, or conviction politics

Conviction politics

Conviction politics refers to the practice of campaigning based on a politicians' own fundamental values or ideas, rather than attempting to represent an existing consensus or simply take positions that are popular in polls....

.

Tariffs

An example of this is tariffs on imported goods in order to keep prices high. The public is largely unaware and/or indifferent to a slight increase in the prices of goods while manufacturers are dependent and very aware of the subsidizing effect of tariffs on competing products. Thus, local manufacturers will most likely strive to maintain tariffs and may succeed quite often.

Pesticides

Another example with farmers is the common use of potentially harmful pesticides. Due to the sheer amount of pesticides on the market and the difficulty on testing each one, there lacks conclusive evidence that many of the pesticides in use would harm the environment, leading to a lack of public consensus of what to do. Farmers, on the other hand, are extremely sensitive to the benefits that such chemicals have on crop yield and will organize to keep pesticides available for use.

Porkbarrel legislation

Most porkbarrel legislation would be considered to be client politics.

See also

• Electoral district
  Electoral district
  An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...
  
  
• Earmark (politics)
  Earmark (politics)
  In United States politics, an earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees...
  
  
• Identity politics
  Identity politics
  Identity politics are political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of self-identified social interest groups and ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through race, class, religion, sexual orientation or traditional dominance...
  
  
• Interest group liberalism
  Interest group liberalism
  Interest group liberalism is Theodore Lowi's term for the clientelism resulting from the broad expansion of public programs in the United States, including those programs which were part of the "Great Society."...
  
  
• Money loop
• Rent-seeking
• Votebank
  Votebank
  A votebank is a loyal bloc of voters from a single community, who consistently back a certain candidate or political formation in democratic elections...