Finally, the term “pork-barrel politics” refers primarily to the practice of courting voter support through policy legislation (especially budgetary allocations).
The term “patronage politics” as used here refers to an attempt to court support not by promising some group of voters favorable legislation but assuring them of favorable implementation.
For instance, an attempt to obtain the support of farmers by enacting a law providing them with subsidies on inputs would fall into the category of pork-barrel politics.
The term “patronage politics” as used here does not describe the enactment of such legislation.
However, let us imagine that in order to procure such a subsidy, farmers have first to obtain a certificate of eligibility from some politician with discretionary power over the distribution of such certificates.