Working Paper #2025-020
Corruption as a Gendered Barrier: Informal Institutions and the Limits of Democratization in North Macedonia
This article examines how corruption operates as a gendered informal institution that restricts women’s substantive political empowerment in post-socialist democracies. Focusing on North Macedonia, we argue that clientelism and male-dominated party networks function as gatekeeping mechanisms that limit women’s access to decision-making despite the presence of gender quotas. Drawing on a sequential mixed-methods study—including an online survey and in-depth interviews with women politicians—we show how informal party practices, electoral manipulation, and the co-optation of quotas create symbolic rather than substantive inclusion. By reframing corruption as a structural and gendered mechanism of exclusion, this study explains why formal democratization and numerical representation fail to dismantle entrenched patriarchal networks. These findings underscore the need for anti-corruption and democratization reforms that confront informal institutions, offering insights for other transitional and hybrid regimes where gendered exclusion persists beneath democratic façades.
- Keywords
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- Gender
- Corruption
- North Macedonia
- Clientelism
- Informal Institutions
- Democratization
- JEL codes
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- D73
- J16
- P2
Cite this as
APA 7th ed.Muratovska, M., Kubbe, I., & Merkle, O. (2025). Corruption as a Gendered Barrier: Informal Institutions and the Limits of Democratization in North Macedonia (UNU-MERIT Working Paper No. 2025-020). UNU-MERIT. https://doi.org/10.53330/EIYG4072