- From the beginning of European settlement in Latin America,
a highly developed mutually beneficial patronage relationship
evolved (patron-client relationship). This relationship
was characteristic of societal ties in Latin America (the
American countries from Mexico southward, until South Chile).
According to Luis Roniger, the patron-client or patronage
relations, existed between landowners and peasants who did
not own land, or between both peasants and herdsmen - and
- merchants who controlled market practices. They also existed
between labor leaders recruiting the support of their followers
for political figures - and - those politicians themselves.
This relationship was based on the understanding that if
the politician was elected, he would channel resources to
union members. Patronage relationships were also formed
between powerful individuals who controlled positions of
power in agrarian societies - and - urban political leaders,
a relationship created in order to reap the benefits of
ties made in the bureaucratic system, either directly or
with the help of an influential intermediary. The common
denominator between all these forms of patronage relationships,
according to Roniger, is their fundamental dissimilarity
to the formal relations that are characteristic of the Western
organizational model. Patronage relations, in their basic
and essential form, Roniger claims, were not similar to
the relations between castes in India, for example, since
the relations between the castes were rigid and inflexible.
Patronage relations differed also from corporate relations
established within families or wider communities. The patronage,
essentially and basically, differed from other forms of
economic and political relations in its exceptional flexibility
and reliance on personal relationships. Roniger explains
that contrary to the ancient antiquated view that perceived
patronage relations as characteristic only of backward societies
that still need to develop ('developing nations'), it became
clear to researchers from the 1960's on, that these relations
were and are common also in developed modern societies.
They should not be viewed as an institution that belongs
only in the past, that has no place in the modern world,
and that is about to disappear completely. Sociologists,
anthropologists and political scientists have realized that
the patronage relationship was a bond based on power and
influence, which allowed people to wield their power and
influence over society based on asymmetric channeling of
a society's resources, inequality, and hierarchical relations.
According to Roniger's definition, any representative of
a person or group before the government or any other organization,
political, economic or social, that is based on trust is
a patronage. This includes the personal trust that a person
has in the lawyer that represents him in court, or in his
trade union, or in the workers' committee or candidate that
citizens choose for local council or parliament. This relationship
existed in feudal society in the vassal-feudal relationship.
What distinguishes modern patronages is that they are relatively
weaker, lacking in personal connection, and not based on
the strong personal trust that characterized patronages
in the past. Roniger cites the views of the early sociologists
Durkheim, Weber, and Marx, to illustrate that a precondition
for the division of labor, in any organized society, is
basic trust between the different sectors, including peasants,
manufacturers and distributors of various goods. These relations
are pre-contract trust-based relations, without which it
would be impossible to begin establishing a patronage relationship.
This definition underscores the continuing relevance of
the institution of patronage. It belongs to a group of institutions
that do not deny the reality that human society was never
equal and is by nature unequal - a reality that the North
Americans (from here on: the Americans) as opposed to the
Latin Americans - wish to refute through the power of a
liberal-democratic-equality ideology, by which they claim
to live. This subject will be expanded upon further on,
within the comparison between North America and Latin America
regarding the differences in the origins of their ideology,
their histories of genocide, and the practices and ideologies
established by the Europeans in these two parts of America.
Within this discussion, the differences that emerge from
this comparison will be evaluated. Alongside the patronage
motif, in the broad sense of the word, and that of hierarchy,
two motifs that are closely related to and define the Latin
American region, is the motif of revolutionism that developed
from Latin American distinctiveness, and from the specific
conditions and historical developments that produced Latin
America's problematic attitude towards democracy and nationalism.
Analysis of these motifs will help us better assess the
current situation and Latin America's future prospects.
This chapter seeks to demonstrate that combined factors
of the basic homogeneity of Latin American lifestyle in
the different countries in this region, and the existing
pressures and problems, as well the current realities in
the world and America, are likely to result in the creation
of one large Pan Latino nation. This political entity would
be composed of 25 countries, all bound by one history of
a Spanish - Portuguese occupation. They would be divided
administratively and operate by uniform guidelines, within
the context of the Spanish imperialistic entity and within
the framework of a European nation The nation would include
Brazil, Spain's neighbor, Portugal whose culture, language
and religion are not that different from those of Spain
and the small insignificant areas near Holland, France and
Britain. Latin American countries all achieved national
independence within a short span of each other, and they
resembled one another quite closely. At the end of the 19th
century, after achieving independence, and as was characteristic
of "sister countries," all the Latin American
countries convened to establish principles - of mutual respect
for each other's independence and borders, for settling
confrontations peacefully, and of nonintervention in each
other's internal matters. They raised the possibility of
eventually establishing a joint committee that would deal
with political issues and with settling confrontations within
the special context of Latin America. Each of the Latin
American States sought and still seeks to achieve a distinct
national identity. Each country has its own specific circumstances,
but they share certain similarities and common denominators.
The motifs of patronage, hierarchy, revolutionism and democracy,
as well as a fifth motif of nationality all weave together
a unique fabric with the distinct characteristics of Latin
America. The order of presentation will not be as mentioned
above but according to the pedagogic needs that will be
outlined later. Discussion of these five motifs will raise
questions regarding human nature that will remain outside
the realm of the current discussion. North America, especially
the U.S., will be examined at length, however, since this
discussion will shed light on Latin America.
