ABSTRACT
Political capital is not a mystery to those in the political arena. Or at least they believe so. It is a second nature force, at once a crude accounting device while also being an ambiguous enabler of firm and individual political behavior. Trying to describe it or define it or show exactly how it is used is, however, another matter. This chapter unpacks political capital through: (1) probing why it is difficult to study and define; (2) reviewing various thought schools about it; (3) checking the sources of political capital; and (4) investigating political capital as an exchange process with a focus on trust, intensity, relationship duration, contingent obligations, and time.
