Book review: Party patronage and party government in European democracies

"Party Patronage and Party Government in European Democracies." Edited by Petr Kopecky, Peter Mair and Maria Spirova. Oxford University Press. July 2012. --- The eurozone debt crisis and subsequent economic reforms have helped to expose endemic levels of corruption and party patronage in countries such as Greece. This book uses more than 600 expert interviews to explore the nature of party patronage across fifteen European democracies. For Sofia Vasilopoulou, one of this book’s main strengths is its investigation of patronage as an organisational resource for parties that are facing falling grass root support.