Patronal Politics

1. Introduction
2. Patronal politics and the great power of expectations
3. A patronal-politics reinterpretation of Eurasian history
4. Constitutions, elections, and regime dynamics
5. The emergence of networks and constitutions
6. The building of Eurasia's great power pyramids
7. Revolutions and other presidential ousters
8. Non-revolution in post-Soviet presidential systems
9. After revolution
10. Patronal parliamentarism
11. Explaining post-Soviet regime dynamics
12. Patronal politics in global comparative perspective.

'Fifteen successor states, the unrecognized para-states, more than a hundred autonomous republics, sizable provinces, big cities including Moscow - the former USSR offers a hugely rich if often unseemly trove of cases for comparative political analysis. Henry E. Hale knows them all firsthand. His theory of patronal politics offers a surprisingly robust yet supple explanation for all this empirical diversity. Perhaps the most important work of synthesis in post-Sovietology, this book acquires special importance as Ukraine, Russia, and other successor states enter the period of wild turbulence.'Georgi Derluguian, New York University, Abu Dhabi, and RANEPA (Moscow)

'Patronal Politics explains more about the trajectories of post-Soviet societies than anything else on the market. Treating the Soviet collapse as a natural experiment in comparative politics, Hale combines insights about hybrid regimes and the logic of collective action (alongside his own extensive fieldwork) to develop a groundbreaking theory of how expectations about power become self-fulfilling prophecies. Vital for scholars, Patronal Politics is so well written that it will also be useful in the classroom.'Kimberly Marten, Columbia University

'Patronal Politics is an incredibly important contribution to the social science literature on Eurasia, as well as the more general comparative politics literature on regime types. Indeed, because of the book's theoretical and empirical scope, it is likely to be one of the most significant works yet on post-1991 Eurasian politics. Hale's argument represents a bold challenge to the prevalent political science literature on Eurasia, offering a novel overarching theoretical framework to support his position.'Brian Taylor, Syracuse University