Fisun O. Democracy and Neopatrimonialism in the Modern Theories of Political Development.

The author presents for defense the results of research of the democracy / neopatrimonialism dilemma in the modern theories of political development and democratization. The dissertation provides a theoretical analysis of the existing literature on democratic theory, developmentalism, world-systems analysis, and transitology, which enables to highlight the key approaches and interpretations of the phenomena. The key role of differentiation between imperium / dominium and its consequences for European power discourse formations are outlined. There are analyzed the Weberian sub-types of patrimonial domination and main contemporary neopatrimonial approaches both. Special attention is focused on the neopatrimonial interpretation of post-Soviet political regimes in comparative perspective. There are analyzed the main features and typology of post-Soviet neopatrimonial systems.