Political capital is the commodification of intangible resources, such as knowledge, power, legitimacy, control, and political expertise (Broxmeyer 2015, 377).
William Marcy “Boss” Tweed (Tweed) was a career politician in the United States during the 19th century. Tweed commodified political capital to manipulate political institutions, such as Tammany Hall, for personal gain of illicit wealth and power (Hirsch 1945, 267; Broxmeyer 2015, 374-375).
Initially, Tweed capitalised on membership in a volunteer fire company to secure electoral support, and gain necessary legitimacy to speak and act for the state (Hirsch 1945, 269; Broxmeyer 2015, 377).
Once Tweed obtained legitimacy, he captured the ‘political market’ (Broxmeyer 2015, 365). Tweed