Political Fund-Raising, Patron-Client Relations, and Organized Criminality: Two Case Studies

This article provides two case studies of political fund-raising abuses committed during the 1996 U.S. election cycle. The author contends that the behaviors described are best characterized as a form of organized criminality and that a good way to study these behaviors is to frame them in terms of patron-client relations. Though noting the limitations of this approach, the author concludes that social network methods are not only a good match with the patron-client perspective but also offer a realistic opportunity to advance the understanding of organized/white-collar-type crimes.