Clientelism in the Neo-Patrimonial State
Strategies for Securing Regional Power in Ukraine
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Informal rules and practises are omnipresent in Ukrainian politics. Because private life and public office are hardly separated, resources within the state apparatus are abused to power-political ends. This is especially seen in relations between the centre and Ukraine’s regions. Control of the Ukrainian regions is secured by the blurring of appointments and budgeting politics on the one hand with elections on the other. Regional politics is a system of redistribution in which the lower levels are formally and informally dependent on the centre and forced to cooperate in clientele form. The return of favours from the centre depends on the successful mobilisation of the electorate during elections.
(Osteuropa 10/2005, pp. 59–74)