Jobs for the Boys: Patronage and the State in Comparative Perspective

by Merilee S. Grindle

Patronage systems in the public service are universally reviled as undemocratic and corrupt. Yet patronage was the prevailing method of staffing government for centuries, and in some countries it still is. In Jobs for the Boys, Merilee Grindle considers why patronage has been so ubiquitous in history and explores the political processes through which it is replaced by merit-based civil service systems. Such reforms are consistently resisted,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674065700
• ISBN13: 9780674065703
• Release Date: June 2012
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"