new forms of social relations outside of a repressive government. And given the universal shortages that became a part of everyday life during the 1970s and 1980s, these ties were a fundamental supplier of basic necessities for the masses.
In Azerbaijan, where the transition from a centrally controlled economy to a free market one continues, clientelistic networks from the Soviet era remain vitally important to the masses in distributing goods, benefits, and influence in politics as well as education, the arts, and business. Patron-client relations in higher education is bound to serve as an important mechanism of exercising authority and a salient frame of reference in analyzing organizational culture at Khazar University. The legacy of the Communist Party in the recruitment of future elites and extensive kinship ties that link most in Azerbaijan to a particular family or region reveals the embeddedness of extensive clientelistic networks. These clientelistic ties may shed light on how power is exercised in the context of a private university like Khazar.
