Paper short abstract:

My analysis intends to relate “patronage” and the notion of “strategy” in order to understand how and why people - specially during these electoral periods marked by the national debate on “austerity” and “refugee crisis” – disavow the political status quo.

Paper long abstract:

My analysis intends to relate "patronage" and the notion of "strategy" in order to understand how and why people - specially during these electoral periods marked by the national debate on "austerity" and "refugee crisis" - disavow the political status quo. This behaviour has been noted in the increasing of the electoral abstention and, on the other hand, in the growth of small parties with strong leaders, who seem to respond to the popular demand for respect and dignified treatment by the public authorities. Since November 2014, I have carried out the fieldwork for my Phd research in Evora, one of the major cities of the Alentejo, in the Mediterranean Portuguese region. From the pre-campaign to the poll of the last Portuguese legislative and presidential elections, which occurred respectively in October 4th and January 24th, I attended to rallies and meetings of candidates with businessmen and representatives of different social groups. I have also participated in private meetings of a local group of male activists of the Socialist Party. All these field activities revealed the persistence of clientelist relations, involving both local and national state administration and relevant political actors as well. My research has been able to demonstrate the foundations of the personalist approach related to the public facilities, according to local citizens, current Communist officers and other parties' activists in Evora.