Outsourcing candidate selection

Abstract

Conflict between factions has been identified as an important factor explaining different procedures of candidate selection. However, the question of what drives factions in choosing certain procedures over others remains under-theorized. This article argues that, when ranking their preferences for candidate selection procedures, factions are influenced by their electoral strategy. While clientelistic factions will push for candidate selection procedures that subordinate themselves to the logic of clientelistic exchange networks, programmatic factions will try to maximize the effectiveness of formal regulations. To demonstrate this relationship, the article studies the recent development of political parties in Taiwan and South Korea, where programmatic factions have ‘outsourced’ the authority to nominate candidates to external actors, thereby moving it beyond the reach of internal patron–client networks.

Political dynasties and democratization: A case study of Taiwan

“…Moreover, particularistic dynasticism favors exchanges of private goods in return for electoral support. Private goods are material benefits that are transferred only to the individual citizen (voter) and include money, employment, and direct preferential services (Hellmann, 2014: 53). Programmatic legacy politicians, however, focus on the distribution of public goods—goods that are universally desired and whose entitlement is regulated by laws and procedures (Hellmann, 2014: 53).…”

“…In the case of Taiwan, the candidate selection process has been a significant factor influencing the development of dynastic politics. In the 1990s, the process was still strongly influenced by clientelistic networks, which strengthened the power of local factions and led to the increased involvement of underground figures in politics (Hellmann, 2014). A decade later, programmatic factions within the DPP and the KMT pushed for formal and transparent procedures beyond the reach of clientelistic networks, which eventually led to the outsourcing of the whole selection process through the introduction of binding public opinion polls (Hellmann, 2014).…”

The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

“…The first type of previous studies has seen candidate selection processes. Hellman (2012) and Fell (2006) analyzed how the parties in East Asian democracies of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have introduced democratic order in their political parties' candidate selections prior to legislative and Presidential elections. Those studies reviewed and analyzed how institutional features of major political parties' candidate selection from the perspective of democratization.…”