© 2016 Robert Preston Photography / Alamy Stock Photo.Baturo provides an overview of similarities between the political regimes that emerged in post-Soviet EurAsia. After independence, “patronal” first secretaries became “patronal” presidents of their own nation-states. Despite differences in formal institutions and democratic trajectories, political elites across the region often reverted to similar methods to maintain themselves in office. Over the 1991-2014 period, political regimes were generally more open and competitive in Armenia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan and more repressive in the rest of Central Asia and in Azerbaijan. Baturo shows how a history of statehood, opposition strength, resources available to ruling elites, and alongside rulers’ own preferences contributed to varieties of regime trajectories in the region.