Employment policies in the web of political clientelism: the Reunion Island and its working-class neighbourhoods governance

By studying public employment policies in the Reunion Island, this article demonstrates the existing confusions between policy and political clientelism. We study how the resources involved in the public policy process, in particular the subsidized contracts, are diverted in the Reunion Island and in the working-class neighborhoods from their official goal – the reintegration of people furthest from the labor market – to feed the clientelistic networks of elected officials. It helps maintaining its hold on power and buying social peace on the territory. Our results therefore encourage taking more seriously the existing connections between policy and political clientelism.