Clientelistic Linkage Mechanisms in Post-Communist Democracies 2009-2023. DALP Evidence

This paper presents initial findings from the expert survey data collection conducted as part of the Democratic Accountability and Linkages Project (DALP) during 2022-2024, with a focus on post-communist democracies. The study examines the prevalence and interplay of political clientelism and programmatism—two key partisan mobilization strategies—across the region. Utilizing data from DALP I (2008-2009) and DALP II (2022-2024), the paper explores the progression of these strategies over time. Additionally, the analysis investigates partisan reliance on different sub-strategies of clientelism—specifically electoral and relational—and their relationship with various voter groups, drawing on data from DALP II. The findings reveal significant variation in the mobilization profiles of both party systems and political parties, with some major parties effectively combining clientelism and programmatism. Notably, relational clientelism emerges as the dominant form of linkage in clientelistic politics within the post-communist space, overshadowing the more globally researched exchange of benefits for electoral services.