"Big Man" politics in the social economy: a case study of microfinance in Kingston, Jamaica. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hossein, Caroline Shenaz
• Is Part Of: Review of social economy. Volume 74:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 148
• Page End: 171
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Bias -- economic exclusion -- gangsters -- microfinance -- social economy -- politicians -- clientelism -- Jamaica -- partner banks -- Dons -- party politics; Economics -- Periodicals; Economics -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Periodicals; Social justice -- Periodicals; 330.5
• DOI: 10.1080/00346764.2015.1067754
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0034-6764

Abstract

Abstract: Microfinance and its "reinvention as bankers-for-the-poor" to create financial inclusion has not been effective everywhere. The literature seems to suggest that the social economy and microfinance help marginalized business people; yet no one considers that political bias interferes with the social economy, making it hard for it to be just. The promise of micro-credit was to achieve a double bottom line: first, the financial sustainability of the lending institution itself, and second, the social benefit of providing loans to low-income business people. Yet, alternative pitches of a social economy to "help people" fail to analyze the embedded power dynamics within the social economy. In this case study in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, 233 small-business people who depend on development finance because of social exclusion now find that these targeted programs are intertwined in partisan, sometimes dangerous, politics. As a result, oppressed people opt out of micro-banking programs to resist "Big Man" politics – the politicians or gangsters attempting to control them. In this study of 307 interviews, I analyze the informal politics of Dons and politicians who misuse micro-credit for their own ends. I find that the coupling of class biases and clientelist practices in the social economy discourages eligible business people from taking micro-loans, and argue that the microfinance industry needs to pay close attention to this issue if it is to continue to help marginalized business people.