The Religious dimension of patronal rule in Post-Soviet Eurasia

ENThe emergence and entrenchment of authoritarian rule in post-Soviet Eurasia in the specific form of patronalism has been well described and documented; Henry Hale's masterful study published in 2015 goes a long way toward explaining the causes, conditions, and effects of this mode of rule. The present article explores the religious dimension of patronalism in greater depth than that provided to date. Doing so will shed useful light on the persistence and acuity of this mode of rule and deepen our understanding of the comparative role of religion in shaping regime type in the contemporary world. Richard Sakwa recently noted, regarding this region of the world, “[T]he relationship between democratization and religion (and political spirituality more broadly) remains substantially underresearched.”.