Abstract
Abstract This article proposes a reading of neo-patrimonial processes, analyzed in particular in the African countries and neo populism in Latin American states in light of the logic of reciprocity. The main hypothesis is that the principle of reciprocity is different from the principle of exchange (and in particular the exchange market). So it can generate specific forms of alienation which are not reducible to the main form of alienation in the exchange system: the capitalist exploitation analyzed by Marx .