Patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism: comparative trajectories and readings

There is a striking contrast between the dissemination of the concept of neopatrimonial rule in Africa and its more parsimonious mobilisation outside the continent. The increasing assimilation of the African neopatrimonial state to integral and predatory forms of politics has contributed to its perception as a global prototype of the ‘anti-developmental’ state. The article contrasts this trajectory with those observed in Latin America, South East Asia, Russia and Central Asia. There, patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism have been associated with a greater axiological neutrality than in Africa due, inter alia, to the preservation of an analytical dichotomy between regulated and predatory forms of neopatrimonialism. Neglected for all too long, the study of regulated forms of neopatrimonialism in Africa calls for fresh empirical and theoretical attention.