Abstract:
Abstract: Political development of emerging liberal democracies is gauged based on the level of democratic
governance. Democratic governance promotes citizens’ participation, transparency and accountability in access to
information and use of public resources, responsiveness to citizens’ needs, effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery,
equitability in sharing of resources, inclusiveness in decision making and the rule of law. This review paper examined the
implication of political patron-client linkages/networks and practices on democratic governance in developing
democracies. This review paper relies on the existing secondary data from various parts of the world in providing a
conceptual explanation of political patron-client networks/linkages how it impact on democratic governance. This study
noted that patron-client networks and practices have profound negative implications for the way in which democracy
functions, and the capacity of governments to produce needed public policies and services. It generally reverse the
standard accountability relationship, affects the development of the political institutions necessary for democratic
development and accountability, leads to politicization of the state administrative bureaucracy, contribute to larger public
deficits and public sector inefficiencies, increases cases of corruption and a culture of impunity and make it difficult to
punish individuals for corrupt behavior. Patron-client linkage is therefore pervasive to the practice of good governance in
the developing democracies and this study recommends for economic liberalization, democratization reforms,
decentralization of governance, civil service reform and electoral civic education as mitigative measures.
Keywords: Patronage, Clientelism, Networks and Democratic Governance
