ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter focuses on political risks to international businesses from the perspectives of theory and area studies. In the search for an approach leading to a deeper understanding of political risks, their underlying complexity and interdependences, the focus of this chapter lies on the political science concept of “neopatrimonialism”. The concept delivers insights into how specific factors of political risks are embedded in a political system. This focus has not yet gained much attention in the literature on neopatrimonialism. Research has so far dealt with political and, to a substantially lesser degree, with economic consequences of this specific mode of organisation. International business aspects, however, have been widely neglected.
