This study is concerned with exploring the relationship between informal forms of political behaviour and relations and the development of formal institutions in post Soviet Central Asian states as a way to explain the development of authoritarianism in the region. It moves the debate on from current scholarship which places primacy on either formal or informal politics in explaining modem political development in Central Asia, by examining the relationship between the two. It utilises Kazakhstan as a case study by assessing how the neopatrimonial system evident in the country has influenced and shaped the development of political parties. It investigates how personalism of political office, patronage and patron-client networks and factional elite conflict have influenced and shaped the institutional constraints affecting party development (institutional choice, electoral design and party law), the type of parties emerging (organisation, ideology and membership) and parties' relationship with society.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/26v7-x355
Isaacs, Rico
Supervisors: Whitmore, Sarah ; Browning, Gary
Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesDepartment of Social Sciences
Year: 2009
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