Prebendalism refers to

political systems In political science, a political system means the type of political organization that can be recognized, observed or otherwise declared by a state. It defines the process for making official government decisions. It usually comprizes the govern ...

in which

elected officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

workers feel they have a right to a share of government revenues, and they use them to benefit supporters, co-religionists and members of their

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

Origins of the term

The Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' defines a

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

as the "right of member of chapter to his share in the revenues of a cathedral".

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...

used the term to describe India and China in the early Middle Ages in his 1915 book, ''The Religion of China'' and his 1916 book, ''The Religion of India''.Max Weber, ''The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism'' (Free Press, 1958), pp 70–71, as quoted by Immanuel Wallerstein in ''The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century'' (University of California Press, 2011) Alavi describes how state-derived rights over capital held by state officials in parts of India in the early 18th Century were held to be of a patron-client nature and thus volatile. They were thus converted where possible into hereditary entitlements.

In Nigeria

Richard A. Joseph, director of The Program of African Studies at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, is usually credited with first using the term to describe patron-clientelism or

neopatrimonialism Neopatrimonialism is a system of social hierarchy where patrons use state resources to secure the loyalty of clients in the general population. It is an informal patron–client relationship that can reach from very high up in state structures do ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Since then the term has commonly been used in scholarly literature and textbooks. Joseph wrote in 1996, "According to the theory of prebendalism, state offices are regarded as prebends that can be appropriated by officeholders, who use them to generate material benefits for themselves and their constituents and kin groups..." As a result of that kind of patron–client or

identity politics Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

, Nigeria has regularly been one of the lowest ranked nations for political transparency by

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

in its

Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...

. Other uses include the corruption investigations into the activities of 31 out of 36 Nigerian governors, the frequent comments in the Nigerian press about the problems of corruption (for example, Victor E. Dike's article in the ''Daily Champion'' of Lagos, "Nigeria: Governance and Nigeria's Ailing Economy") and the common defenses of prebendalism as necessary for justice and equality in government funding (for example Oliver O. Mbamara's editorial, "In Defense of Nigeria: Amidst the Feasting of Critics" at ''Africa Events)''.Mbamara, Oliver O., "In Defense of Nigeria: Amidst the Feasting of Critics," ''Africa Events'', http://www.africanevents.com/Essay-InDefenseOfNigeria0606.htm {{dead link, date=March 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes

References

Politics of Nigeria Political corruption Subfields of political science

Origins of the term

In Nigeria

See also

References