A mode of government based on informal political ties and exchanges; the head of state and his agents mostly exert their power through personal whim and material incentives. Erdmann and Engel (GIGA-WP-16/2006) argue that neopatrimonialism is ‘not a cut-and-dried concept’. In one view, the use of state resources by elites to buy loyalty among the public is corruption, or bad governance. In another, it is an effective way of the poor to be directly linked to the state and obtain the support and goods they need’ (N. Castree, R. Kitchin, and A. Rogers, 2013).