Drivers of Compliance and Non-compliance in Patron-Client Relations

• In Event: Emerging Scholars Lightning Round: Research Design

Abstract

Why do subordinate states in aligned relationships choose to comply or not comply with their superiors' demands? To answer this question, the proposed research project attempts to use the framework of patron-client relations and identifies five potential hypotheses and supporting mechanisms that could drive compliance and non-compliance outcomes. To test these elements, I seek to conduct a process tracing in the context of three qualitative case studies on Russia’s relationship with Syria, Armenia, and Belarus. I put particular emphasis on one episode of compliance and one episode of non-compliance for each case. The overall aim of the research project is to come up with a coherent theory that could explain the compliance and non-compliance outcomes in patron-client relations.

Authors

• Toms Ratfelders

• Elina Vroblevska, Rīga Stradiņš University