Russia's Economy of Favours

Russia's Economy of Favours PDF Author: Alena V. Ledeneva
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521627436
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
The word blat refers to the system of informal contacts and personal networks which was used to obtain goods and services under the rationing which characterised Soviet Russia. Alena Ledeneva's book is the first to analyse blat in all its historical, socio-economic and cultural aspects, and to explore its implications for post-Soviet society. In a socialist distribution system which resulted in constant shortages, blat developed into an 'economy of favours' which shadowed an overcontrolling centre and represented the reaction of ordinary people to the social constraints they faced. In social and economic terms, blat exchanges became vital to the population, and to the functioning of the Soviet system. The book shows that the nature of the economic and political changes in contemporary Russia cannot be properly understood without attention to the powerful legacy of the blat economy.

Russia's Economy of Favours

Russia's Economy of Favours PDF Author: Alena V. Ledeneva
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521627436
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
The word blat refers to the system of informal contacts and personal networks which was used to obtain goods and services under the rationing which characterised Soviet Russia. Alena Ledeneva's book is the first to analyse blat in all its historical, socio-economic and cultural aspects, and to explore its implications for post-Soviet society. In a socialist distribution system which resulted in constant shortages, blat developed into an 'economy of favours' which shadowed an overcontrolling centre and represented the reaction of ordinary people to the social constraints they faced. In social and economic terms, blat exchanges became vital to the population, and to the functioning of the Soviet system. The book shows that the nature of the economic and political changes in contemporary Russia cannot be properly understood without attention to the powerful legacy of the blat economy.

Russia's economy of Favours

Russia's economy of Favours PDF Author: Alena V. Ledeneva
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Black market
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description


How Russia Really Works

How Russia Really Works PDF Author: Alena V. Ledeneva
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801470056
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book 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.

Can Russia Modernise?

Can Russia Modernise? PDF Author: Alena V. Ledeneva
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521110823
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
A political ethnography of the inner workings of Putin's sistema, contributing to our understanding Russia's prospects for future modernisation.

How to Revive Russia's Economy

How to Revive Russia's Economy PDF Author: Evgenij G. Jasin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description


Russia's Virtual Economy

Russia's Virtual Economy PDF Author: Clifford G. Gaddy
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815731115
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Clifford Gaddy's and Barry Ickes' thesis-- that Russia's economy is based on illusion or pretense about nearly every important economic yardstick, including prices, sales, wages and budgets-- has forced broad recognition of the inadequacies of the intended market reform policies in Russia and provided a coherent framework for understanding how and why so much of Russia's economy has resisted reform.

Russia's Long Twentieth Century

Russia's Long Twentieth Century PDF Author: Choi Chatterjee
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317221222
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Covering the sweep of Russian history from empire to Soviet Union to post-Soviet state, Russia's Long Twentieth Century is a comprehensive yet accessible textbook that situates modern Russia in the context of world history and encourages students to analyse the ways in which citizens learnt to live within its system and create distinctly Soviet identities from its structures and ideologies. Chronologically organised but moving beyond the traditional Cold War framework, this book covers topics such as the accelerating social, economic and political shifts in the Russian empire before the Revolution of 1905, the construction of the socialist order under Bolshevik government, and the development of a new state structure, political ideology and foreign policy in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors highlight the polemics and disagreements that energize the field, discussing interpretations from Russian, émigré, and Western historiographies and showing how scholars diverge sharply in their understanding of key events, historical processes, and personalities. Each chapter contains a selection of primary sources and discussion questions, engaging with the voices and experiences of ordinary Soviet citizens and familiarizing students with the techniques of source criticism. Illustrated with images and maps throughout, this book is an essential introduction to twentieth-century Russian history.

Informal Politics

Informal Politics PDF Author: John Christopher Cross
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804730628
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
As economic crises struck the Third World in the 1970s and 1980s, large segments of the population turned to the informal economy to survive. This book looks at street vending as a political process in the largest city in the world.

Russia's Carnival

Russia's Carnival PDF Author: Christoph Neidhart
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742520424
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This colorfully drawn and acutely observed book explores Russia by engaging all our senses. Today's Russia smells different from the Soviet Union. The country looks and sounds different, its touch is different and its food tastes different. Thus, Christoph Neidhart argues, Russia is truly a changed country from the Soviet Union it was, little more than a decade ago. Russian society is rapidly urbanizing and modernizing, as can be perceived by all senses, including the awareness of space and the conception of time. After almost a century, space can be privately owned and freely traded; time too has become commodified. New role models and new ways to express social status are emerging. Russia has become a 'monetized' economy as the old Soviet practice of provision by networking has grown obsolete. Russia thus readies itself gradually to grow into a Western-style, middle-class society with a free market and democratic polity. The author assesses these rapid changes using the evocative metaphor of the carnival to understand the chaotic inversion of the Communist structure of society. He explores the transition's traps and shortcomings--such as the privatization of politics and the looting of the state's assets--and compares this process to the modernization Western society underwent a century earlier.

Economies of Favour After Socialism

Economies of Favour After Socialism PDF Author: David Henig
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199687412
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
A volume on the economics of favours and how they function as socially efficacious actions in post-socialist regions including central, eastern, and south eastern Europe; the former Soviet Union; Mongolia; and post-Maoist China.