How Russia really works [[electronic resource] ] : the informal practices that shaped post-Soviet politics and business / / Alena V. Ledeneva

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910781250303321
• Autore: Ledeneva Alena V. <1964->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Ithaca [N.Y.], : Cornell University Press, 2006
• ISBN: 0-8014-7352-7; 0-8014-7005-6; 0-8014-6168-5
• Descrizione fisica: xii, 270 p. : ill
• Collana: Culture and society after socialism
• Disciplina: 320.947
• Soggetti: Political corruption - Russia (Federation); Political culture - Russia (Federation); Corporations - Corrupt practices - Russia (Federation); Corporate culture - Russia (Federation); Social networks - Russia (Federation); Business networks - Russia (Federation); Russia (Federation) Politics and government 1991-; Russia (Federation) Economic conditions 1991-
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Why are informal practices still prevalent in Russia? -- Chernyi piar : manipulative campaigning and the workings of Russian democracy -- Kompromat : the use of compromising information in informal politics -- Krugovaia poruka : sustaining the ties of joint responsibility -- Tenevoi barter : shadow barter, barter chains, and nonmonetary markets -- Dvoinaia bukhgalteriia : double accountancy and financial scheming -- Post-Soviet tolkachi : alternative enforcement and the use of law.
• Sommario/riassunto: 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.Ledeneva 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.