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Glite Dictionary
⛪ Church income related 🏛️ Political patronage
prebendal

prebendal

9.9
Relating to giving public jobs or money to political supporters
  • adjective
  • /ˈprɛbəndəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : clientelista
  • The prevalence of prebendal behavior in the administration hindered fair access to state resources for the general public.

Examples

  • The politician faced criticism for his prebendal practices, using his office to benefit friends and allies.

  • In a prebendal system, government resources are often distributed to loyal supporters of the ruling party.

  • Making explicit the tacit assumption of personal prebendal rights, a county Party secretary in Henan, well known for his blatant displays of imperious behavior, instructed his subordinates to "Guard well the Party committee."

    Academic text (2014)

  • The prebendal prerogatives of local Chinese officials have been additionally reinforced by the aforementioned system of compartmentalized participation, made possible by the absence of semi-competitive elections, which precludes effective bottom-up control over their behavior.

    Academic text (2014)

Synonyms

clientelist
vsprebendal
  • Specialized
9.5

Relating to a system where leaders give goods or jobs to get votes

involves using public office to give state resources to supporters
clientelistic
vsprebendal
  • Specialized
9.9

To give jobs, money, or favors to supporters in return for votes

focuses on using public office to allocate state resources to supporters

Surface Forms

prebendal positive

Morphology

prebendal = prebend (opaque) = prebend + al

Although formed from 'prebend' + '-al', the political sense is a specialized metaphorical extension from the church context and is not easily recoverable for most learners.

Etymology

Prebendal is also used for a kind of politics where leaders give jobs or money to their supporters because a prebend was 'a payment' tied to a church post. That's why prebendal politics means using public office as a source of pay for friends or supporters.