ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some assumptions as they have appeared in the work of political scientists, particularly in the United States, who, it might be said, have played a significant role in shaping the postwar construction of the Italian South as uniformly backward and irredeemably clientelistic. It also reviews the depiction of southern politics in the hegemonic literature of American political science, concentrating on the all-important concept of clientelism. While the evidence that supports the contention that clientelism can be instrumental to economic development is available elsewhere, the chapter develops the same argument in theoretical terms. The chapter suggests that the possibility that economic development can feed back to politics, contributing to the replacement of clientelism by a more "civic" style of politics. It concludes by speculating on the possibility that the feedback effect of economic development on local politics could lead to the replacement of clientelism with a more "civic" style of politics.
