Summary
Early research on clientelism spans over a period between1960 and
1980. Early publications sparked a debate on the content, meaning and impact of clientelist ties. Researchers tackled the issue of explaining individual cases on different levels of focused analysis, rather than contributing to
the common understanding of what clientelism “is” and “how” exactly it influences society. This paper presents an overview of contemporary research
on clientelism, its theoretical conceptualization, early traces of the use of
exchange relations of power and resources, a historical overview of the utilization of clientelist networks by political actors to ascend to power and
survive in power and lastly the instrumentalization of clientelism to stabilize
society. Later on, the paper provides a quantitative analysis of contributing
factors to clientelist tendencies between political parties and voters in the
Republic of Macedonia.
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