Patrimonilism Isn’t Farther Now

The podcast episode of 'The Leftish Agenda' hosted by Eddie centers around the topic of Patrimonialism, a system of governance. Eddie highlights the key aspects that epitomize patrimonial systems, including personal authority, clientelism and patronage networks, weak institutional frameworks, hereditary leadership, and limited accountability and transparency. He then delves into the repercussions of such a system, primarily corruption, political instability, social inequality, and resistance to reform. Following up with examples, Eddie cites historical instances from pre-modern states and medieval Europe, as well as contemporary instances from Uzbekistan under Islam Karimov and Libya under Muammar Gaddafi. Eddie concludes the episode by emphasizing the importance of understanding these systems to foster an evolution towards more institutionalized forms of governance.