Patronage, the Poor Weasleys, and Poor Scrimgeour

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 180882

PATRONAGE

To set the stage for this post, I'd like to offer Pharnabazus' 
excellent essays on the Patronage system and how the WW conforms to 
it:

http://pharnabazus.livejournal.com/715.html

I highly recommend the entire essay, though you may find parts out of 
date since it was written before HBP. To understand the Patronage 
part, I'd say parts 1 through 3 are sufficient.

A brief synopsis; what Pharnabazus lays out is a system not unlike 
the Greek city-states of around the time of the Peloponnesian Wars, 
or the Italian city-states of the 13th century. <nods to Gavin> There 
are groups of people that are beholden to a cell leader, support and 
fight that leader's fights. In exchange, the supporters expect the 
protection of that leader from political intrigue and a relief from 
having to worry about the general necessities of life, the cell 
leader assuming the role of provider. In the case of the WW, the cell 
leader is ensuring their way of life, promoting the things that the 
underlings find valuable.

I think JKR wrote this type of system when she wrote the series, 
whether or not it was done consciously or intentionally. The 
corruptness of the Ministry goes hand in hand with the type of 
governance you get with a patronage system.

Her major Patrons were Dumbledore and Voldemort. The minor patrons 
were people like Lucius Malfoy, Bartemius Crouch Sr., and with a 
lesser cell, Cornelius Fudge. I'm sure there must be others, but 
there wasn't any mentioned of those characters.

WEASLEYS

The Weasleys seem to have the basics of life, they never seem to lack 
for food or shelter. Though nobody is confusing the Burrow for a 
mansion, I'm with Harry, if I were in that world I'd much rather live 
in an obviously magical home than something that could be confused 
for a Muggle home of one with conspicuous wealth. Heck, even the 
ghoul in the attic makes himself useful in the end. Also, it appears 
the Weasleys grow or raise most of their own food. And something 
tells me Molly has become an expert at stretching her ingredients to 
feed all those mouths.

Yet a major theme in the Weasleys lives was their seeming poverty. 
Manifested in poor clothes, used books, and hand-me-down wands. Was 
it simply a result of having too many children, as Draco teased? 

Can we chalk up Arthur's lower ranking and probably lower pay at the 
Ministry to his quirky facination with all things Muggle? Well, if 
Arthur advertised the same, I suppose so. But was this facination 
known outside of his family? I'm thinking no.

I've wondered if part of their problem is that Arthur was languishing 
outside of the patronage system. We were told that Arthur and Molly 
weren't in the Order the first time around. That would mean they 
weren't in Dumbledore's patron cell. That would also mean that Arthur 
had nobody watching over him and trying to secure promotions for him, 
when positions opened up. 

Notice how Arthur spends one year as a Dumbledore cell member, then 
when Dumbledore comes out on the winning side against the Ministry 
(Fudge's cell), Arthur gets a promotion. Then, when Voldemort's cell 
takes over at the Ministry, Arthur seems to have gone stationary, 
while others around him are moving up. Of course you'll say that's 
because Arthur is a known Order member. But that only shows that this 
is indeed a patronage system, as that's what it means to be in the 
ascending cells and declining cells.

SCRIMGEOUR

First a little history. When Crouch Sr. had his PR problems, he 
undoubtedly lost face with a lot of his supporters/underlings. Fudge, 
with his lesser patronage, seized the opportunity and became MoM. But 
Fudge couldn't hold his own against the likes of Malfoy's patronage. 
So he ended up playing a dangerous game of accepting Lucius' help and 
money, while trying to stay independent. Lucius, who was undoubtedly 
trying to get his people advanced on behalf of Voldemort's master 
plan, was probably hoping to absorb Fudge's smaller patronage given 
enough time.

When Fudge was ousted, there wasn't a patronage ready to step in. 
Crouch's old patronage seems to have not yet reformed under a new 
leader. Those people had either joined a different cell or were still 
free agents. Lucius was in prison, and therefore his cell was 
leaderless. Dumbledore seemed loathe to have anything to do with the 
Ministry any more. Which leads me to poor Scrimmy.

Since the WW finally recognized it was at war, it turned to a quasi-
military man as it's leader. Reminiscent of how Churchill, a former 
defence minister, ascended to power after Chamberlain's disgrace. The 
problem for poor Scrimmy is that he was not only unready for the 
position, he didn't seem to be at the head of any patronage cell at 
all. He promoted Arthur, one of DD's men. He left Umbridge in, though 
she surely wasn't beholden to him. He either left Thickness in place 
or promoted him to a departmental head position. Either way, I don't 
think Thickness was one of Scrimmy's own, at least it appears that 
Thickness was susceptible to the DEs because of his lack of loyalty 
to Scrimmy. Heck, he even kept Percy.

Poor Scrimgeour, thrust into a position of leadership without the 
tools necessary to survive in this system. I.e. Scrimmy had no 
supporting patronage cell to help him fight his fights.

Mike