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This book is the author's response to the initial wave of democracy euphoria in South-East Europe, and the obvious regress of it after the "last catch" accession of Bulgaria and Romania (2007) into the European Union family. A core deficit in this respect is the lack of sustainable patronage, relevant to modern societal existence. 1 The bitter fruits of some "dilemma of simultaneity" (Elster 1990), which might have failed to precisely predict the impossibility of transformation in Eastern - rope, has hit the target, as related to the breeds of "impatient capitalisms" that - vour the region. Rising institutional asymmetries, the neglected "rule of law", the lack of procurement procedures and public control over governmental expenditures as well as illegal schemes of privatisation, tax collecting and the unfair allocation of public funds have shaped mimicries of reforms in crucial spheres of social life. Corruptive patterns of patronages have very much spoiled the outputs of a most p- truded and teasing transition. This undermines significant societal progress. System abuse of civic rights, conflict of interests, nepotisms, political partisanship, int- weaving of institutions with organized criminality threaten to deviate the region from the general aims of democratic existence and modern societal advance.
List of contents
Changing Paradigms of Patronage (A South Eastern European Outlook).- Rethinking Patronages (Towards the Phenomenology of Patron Client Relations).- Discovering Balkan Patronages.- Rationalizing Corruption.- Corruptive Patterns of Patronage.- Competitive Global Patronages.- Conclusion: Quasi-Democracies as Fields of Corruption.
About the author
Prof. Dr. Plamen K. Georgiev graduated in Sociology at Humboldt University, Berlin. He teaches as a guest professor at Heidelberg University and is a senior research fellow of the DFG research group 1288 „Patrons, Clients, Friends“ at Freiburg University.
Foreword
Corruption and organized crime in South East Europe and a wider global context
Report
"The author has successfully met the complex challenge of illustrating how we must rethink patronage from a historical perspective with a critical discussion of corruption and global actors. This book will be of particular interest to all interdisciplinary scholars concerned with the future democratisation and integration of South-East Europe. The book collates, describes, summarises and highlights important questions for future research." Political Studies Review, 2-2010
