Political particularism
Open-knowledge reference entry
Political particularism is, by one definition, "policymakers' ability to further their career by catering to narrow interests rather than broader national platforms."
Characteristics
In a political system governed by particularism the decisive factor in politics becomes ethnic and religious identity and the interests of the communities defined by these bonds. This stands at odds with the ideas and values of political pluralism, with its emphasis on universal rights, separation of religion and the government, and an ethic of ethnic and religious tolerance.
Legislative practice
When an elected assembly, which is supposed to express collective interests, directs funds to a specific recipient (with local and personal Acts in a parliamentary system in the United Kingdom, or earmarks in a congressional system in the United States, for example), the legislature is bent to political particularism. As a result, group identity politics trump universal rights, at the expense of the rights of minorities and "others".
It is in direct opposition to the concept of universality of the law and to the trustee model of representation. The practice in the following countries is often called pork barrel or earmark or patronage, but those words do not always imply corrupt or undesirable conduct.
Australia
"Pork barrel" is frequently used in reference to Australian politics, in circumstances where marginal seats might be seen as receiving more funding than safe seats or when funding for projects is heavily directed toward the party-held seats, with the opposition receiving little to no such funding. The term's widespread appearance in news media has led to it being commonly used in Australian English as a verb, such as in "pork barrelling". The sports rorts affair (2020) perpetrated by Senator Bridget McKenzie is a classic example of pork barrelling in Australian politics.
Central and Eastern Europe
Romanians speak of pomeni electorale (literally, "electoral alms"), while the Polish kiełbasa wyborcza means literally "election sausage".
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This entry incorporates text from “Political particularism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.