How Russia Really Works

V. Ledeneva Alena

Description

During the Soviet era, blat-the use of personal networks for obtaining goods and services in short supply and for circumventing formal procedures-was necessary to compensate for the inefficiencies of socialism. The collapse of the Soviet Union produced a new generation of informal practices. In How Russia Really Works, Alena V. Ledeneva explores practices in politics, business, media, and the legal sphere in Russia in the 1990s-from the hiring of firms to create negative publicity about one's competitors, to inventing novel schemes of tax evasion and engaging in "alternative" techniques of contract and law enforcement. She discovers ingenuity, wit, and vigor in these activities and argues that they simultaneously support and subvert formal institutions. They enable corporations, the media, politicians, and businessmen to operate in the post-Soviet labyrinth of legal and practical constraints but consistently undermine the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. The "know-how" Ledeneva describes in this book continues to operate today and is crucial to understanding contemporary Russia.On December 6, 2009, Alena Ledeneva discussed her book on the BBC Radio program Forum. Here's the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00551mg#synopsis.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Sociology
• Political corruption
• Russia
• History of Europe
• Russie

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801461682
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

How Russia Really Works

Culture and Society after Socialism

a series edited by Bruce Grant Nancy Ries

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Defending the Border: Politics, Religion, and Modernity in the Georgian Borderlands

by Mathijs Pelkmans

How Russia Really Works

The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business

Alena V. Ledeneva

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2006 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2006 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ledeneva, Alena V., 1964– How Russia really works : the informal practices that shaped post-Soviet politics and business / Alena V. Ledeneva. p. cm.—(Culture and society after socialism) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-4346-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8014-4346-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-7352-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8014-7352-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Political corruption—Russia (Federation) 2. Political cul- ture—Russia (Federation) 3. Corporations—Corrupt prac- tices—Russia (Federation) 4. Corporate culture—Russia (Feder- ation) 5. Social networks—Russia (Federation) 6. Business networks—Russia (Federation) 7. Russia (Federation)—Politics and government—1991- . 8. Russia (Federation)—Economic conditions—1991- . I. Title. II. Series. JN6695.A55C639 2006 320.947—dc22

2006023279

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Cloth printing Paperback printing

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To my grandmother Vera Stepanovna Mikhailova

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction 1. Why Are Informal Practices Still Prevalent in Russia? 2.Chernyi Piar:Manipulative Campaigning and the Workings of Russian Democracy 3.Kompromat:The Use of Compromising Information in Informal Politics 4.Krugovaia Poruka:Sustaining the Ties of Joint Responsibility 5.Tenevoi Barter:Shadow Barter, Barter Chains, and Nonmonetary Markets 6.Dvoinaia Bukhgalteriia:Double Accountancy and Financial Scheming 7. Post-SovietTolkachi:Alternative Enforcement and the Use of Law Conclusion

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Contents

Appendixes Appendix 1.PravdaversusIstina Appendix 2. Profile of the Leading National Media Outlets in the 1990s Appendix 3. “Bound by One Chain” by Nautilus Pompilus Appendix 4. List of Legal Documents Related to Barter Transactions in the Russian Federation, 1990–1997 Appendix 5. List of Respondents Appendix 6. List of Questions

Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

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Illustrations

Figures 2.1. Sample of blackpiar: an open letter 2.2. “Votes: Buying or Selling?” 2.3. Results of public opinion surveys compared with results of the elections on December 19, 1999 3.1Kompromatcycle in Russia 3.2 Posters from exhibition “Kompromat” 4.1 “Krugovaia poruka” 5.1 Barter shares in industrial sales, 1992–2001 5.2 Scheme for payment of local taxes 5.3 Scheme for payment of telephone and electricity arrears 5.4 Scheme for cashing in barter by payments for housing services 6.1 Scheme for capital flight in the late 1990s 7.1 Post-Soviet folklore on alternative enforcement

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