Organizational Empowerment versus Clientelism

Development projects are inscribed in concrete relations of power. These relations have multiple dimensions, presenting themselves at almost all levels of a project—between communities and their surroundings, among project beneficiaries, in connection with the conditions and circumstances that the project is attempting to change, among the institutions that participate in the project, and between technical advisers and beneficiaries. Many development projects do not recognize these power relations in their training and implementation regimes, focusing instead on formal institutional relations. Probably because they conceive of the individual as an abstract entity isolated from any social context, they tend to view that individual as an intellectual being rather than as a social being of flesh and bone inscribed in relations of power with certain circumstances of rank, of domination and subordination, of interests, values, and ideas. This approach neglects the relations that order society, defining positions and opportunities and generating and maintaining a system of incentives and punishments directed toward the consolidation of positions, channels of social advancement, values, and behaviors. Not viewing individuals within the power relations that are the basis of social organization makes it impossible to fully understand their motivations or the logic of their behavior toward institutions and their functionaries and toward the various groups and organizations in which they participate. When projects are designed and policies are formulated with the goal of a fair and efficient administration that will avoid clientelism, the assumption is that things will turn out as expected. Existing relations are ignored, overlooking the fact