Patron-client relations in party systems in the Far East and South-East Asia

The author demonstrates the organic connection of patron-client relations as a special type of political communication with traditional social order shaped by the so-called Confucian civilization. According to the author, factionalism explicitly or implicitly permeates all rinds of party systems in this region and is a natural outcome of patron-client relations as a real foundation of these systems. Besides, the author discloses a certain evolution of these relations in the countries with the most solid democracies in this area. Taiwan is a case in point of such development.