Moving from clientelist politics toward a welfare regime: evidence from the 2009 assembly election in Andhra Pradesh

Increases in government revenue in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, have enabled provision of welfare benefits without revenue caps, which has removed the need for clientelist intermediaries. In this transition from clientelism, the government has led the way, a different path from other societies where the middle class has initiated political reforms leading to the demise of clientelism. The formerly dominant castes, which continue to control the government, retain greater expectation of clientelist benefits than lower castes, sustaining high-level corruption and caste cronyism in the underbelly of the emerging welfare regime. This study is based on a survey undertaken during the 2009 election for the assembly in Andhra Pradesh that yielded victory for the incumbent Congress regime.