This book examines the nature of party competition in hybrid regimes, focusing on Georgia, a post-Soviet hybrid regime. It explores the coexistence of programmatic and clientelistic forms of party competition, offering a nuanced understanding of electoral dynamics in non-democratic contexts.
Guided by three research questions, the book investigates the extent of programmatic party competition, its emergence, and its coexistence with clientelistic practices. Using a multi-method research design and a range of primary data, it integrates programmatic and clientelistic frameworks to analyse party competition in democratic and non-democratic contexts. The book applies process tracing methodology to demonstrate how intra-party competition influences pre-election manifestos and expands an established behavioural model to better suit non-democratic settings. Readers gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of party competition in hybrid regimes.
This book is intended for researchers and students studying electoral politics, party competition, coalition politics, and area studies, particularly those focusing on post-Soviet societies and the Caucasus. It is also valuable for scholars interested in hybrid regimes and non-democratic political systems.