ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author takes initial steps toward building a framework able to explain why a range of related phenomena-variously described as rent-seeking, corruption, and clientelism-may be relatively more compatible or relatively more obstructive to the process of Third World development. He highlights how contrasting political settings spawn very different patterns of seeking—and dispensing—particularistic advantage. The author seeks to demonstrate that the process of creating such a broad framework benefits from an eclectic approach; specifically, it is valuable to draw insights from three literatures, with distinct lineages, that overlap but all too rarely interact: those relating to rents, corruption, and clientelism. Within Southeast Asia, he argues elsewhere, the bureaucratic capitalism associated with the former bureaucratic polity of Thailand, for example, needs to be differentiated from the "booty capitalism" spawned by the oligarchic patrimonial state found in the Philippines.
