The Best Laid Plans: The Impact of Informal Rules on Formal Institutions in Transitional Regimes

How do informal institutions influence the formation and function of formal institutions? Existing typologies focus on the interaction of informal institutions with an established framework of formal rules that is taken for granted. In transitional settings, such typologies are less helpful, since many formal institutions are in a state of flux. Instead, using examples drawn from post-communist state development, I argue that informal institutions can replace, undermine, and reinforce formal institutions irrespective of the latter’s strength, and that the elite competition generated by informal rules further influences which of these interactions dominate the development of the institutional framework. In transitional settings, the emergence and effectiveness of many formal institutions is endogenous to the informal institutions themselves.     

Mastering space in Eurasia: Russia’s geopolitical thinking after the Soviet break-up

This essay assumes the significance of spatial imagination in shaping the political and cultural boundaries of the post-Soviet Eurasia and reviews the newly emerged geopolitical arguments in Russia. Rather than perceiving Eurasianist views in Russia as relatively homogeneous, I argue that such thinking is highly diverse and varies from West-friendly versions to those that are openly isolationist and expansionist. To support my argument, I select six recently published Russian volumes and group them into five distinct schools of Russia’s geopolitical thinking, each with their own intellectual assumptions, worldviews, and bases of support in the society. While writing on the same subject of the Eurasian geopolitics, each author proposes principally different solutions to the problems that emerged over the 10 years of Russia’s post-communist experience. The argument invites us to rethink the nature of Russia’s spatial thinking and activities in Eurasia and to seriously consider engaging Russia as an equal participant in a larger collective security-based arrangement in the region.

Geography may ‘matter’ … only as the moment in which abstract universal social processes, such as social stratification, state-building, and ideological hegemony, are revealed in space.

John Agnew and Stuart Corbridge, Mastering Space (1995, 13)     

Rethinking civil society: radical politics and the legitimization of unpaid activities

This article examines recent debates on the concept of civil society as a source of renewal for political economy and a contributing factor to the establishment of social inclusion. In terms of political economy it contends that the relationship between markets and civil society has been under-theorized and that the potentially deleterious impact of the hegemony of market discourses on civil society has been neglected. Thus there is a need to engage with more radical theories which suggest that, if we want to support and legitimize socially useful activities such as unpaid work, spaces within civil society should be protected from the penetration of economic rationality. To this end the article argues that, following contemporary radical democratic theory, it is important to think of civil society as a differentiated space in which a wide range of actors engage in a multiplicity of activities. However, where radical democrats have tended to focus on a differentiated space for political engagement, this article concludes that we should do the same for economic and non-economic activities and, in so doing, construct an alternative political economy to the hegemony of market discourses.     

Does EU Policymaking Allow for Skilful Networkers But Limited Knowledge Managers? The Think Tanks’ Tale

This article aims to depict how the EU policymaking process affects the knowledge-broker role of EU think tanks. To this end, I examine the organisational and output strategies of 22 EU think tanks—think tanks sharing a EU-transnational origin, an interest in EU subjects, and the intention to contribute to EU policymaking. I argue that certain aspects of EU policymaking, (a) the emphasis on participative processes that foster linkage and exchange activities, (b) concern with stakeholder representatives, (c) development frameworks for knowledge management for particular policy actors, and (d) lack of an overarching European public sphere, affect the knowledge-broker role of EU think tanks. As a result, EU think tanks concentrate on customised knowledge management and platform development and dissemination among target publics in order to appeal to partners, members and sponsors and thereby secure funding and reputation.     

Transnational mobility,social capital,and cosmopolitan women traders in Ghana

Abstract

The dynamic economic power of Ghanaian women as traders in cloth and foodstuffs is well documented in the humanities and social sciences. This paper focuses on an emergent category of Ghanaian traders, women who are educated abroad and travel the globe to purchase consumer items, art, and cloth to sell on the Ghanaian market. The narratives of these women highlight numerous sociohistorical moments relevant to the global economy. As first- and second-generation immigrants in North America, these young traders are the children of the first-wave highly skilled African immigrants who sought educational opportunities in North America and Europe in the 1960s–1970s. The offspring of these educational elite now often speak of and act on a different set of desires and experience, to earn degrees in North America and Europe but return to Ghana in order to start entrepreneurial endeavors in art, fashion, and music. This new Ghanaian market woman earns a lucrative income using their cultural capital garnered through highly prized Western diplomas, the social history of women as formidable traders in Ghana, and the economic start-up funds garnered from transnational job opportunities and global family networks. In this paper, I examine the ways in which young women take advantage of global capital in order to achieve economic success in ways that question as well as challenge public policy and development programs in Ghana. Using a qualitative analysis based on ethnographic research conducted during 2009–2011 during which I interviewed 16 women ages 23–36, this paper examines how elite women progressively participate in and benefit from globalization in the ballooning informal economy of Ghana.     

Revolution without regime change: The evidence from the post-Euromaidan Ukraine

What effects does a revolution have on the stability or change of a hybrid regime? Has the Ukraine's regime changed since the 2014 revolution? To answer these questions I examine the changes in formal and informal institutions and the quantitative and qualitative composition of elites after the change of power in Ukraine in 2014. I argue that despite greater than in the post-orange period quantitative renewal of elites, qualitative change has not occurred. Meanwhile, the old operational code, or modus operandi, of elites' political culture, composed of clientelism, secretive deals and quota based nominations to government positions continues to operate. The lack of elites' renewal and the dominance of informal rules over formal procedures – two factors that keep the institutional core of Ukraine's hybrid regime unchanged.     

Nur Otan,Informal Networks and the Countering of Elite Instability in Kazakhstan: Bringing the ‘Formal’ Back In

As opposed to the current literature which argues that informal politics pervades formal institutions in Kazakhstan and Central Asia more widely, this article argues that Nur Otan, the political party of the President of Kazakhstan, acts as a formal institution to counter the instability generated by informal networks competing for access to political and economic resources. This is achieved by consolidating the political parties associated with these networks into Nur Otan and the synchronisation of the party and the state apparatus. However, the extent to which Nur Otan can provide this stabilising function in the long term is dependent upon regime dynamics.     

Vietnam Rising Dragon: Contesting Dominant Western Masculinities in Ho Chi Minh City's Global Sex Industry

Scholars have produced a substantial body of literature on the lives of female sex workers in the commercial sex industry in developed and developing countries around the world. This literature on heterosexual relations has focused overwhelmingly on the experiences of female sex workers, neglecting to examine the significance of male clients (Chapkis 1997; Prasad Sociological Perspectives 42(2):181–213, 1999; Weitzer Annual Review of Sociology, 35(1), 213–234, 2009). The limited studies that do address male clients focus exclusively on Western men who participate in romance or sex tours. No study has examined sex work as a site for the performance and production of specific masculinities for the increasing number of local, non-Western, business elites in the new global economy. Drawing on 15 months of ethnographic research conducted between 2009 and 2010 and informal interviews with 25 clients, 25 sex workers, and three madams in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, I illustrate how local Vietnamese and Asian businessmen enact their masculinity in relation to other men through the medium of hard cash. Local elites' participation in local hostess bars allows them to capitalise on Vietnam's rapid economic restructuring in the context of the 2008 global economic crisis in order to assert their place as major players in the world order. In doing so, wealthy local Vietnamese and Asian businessmen deconstruct dominant Western ideals to assert their place in the global order.     

THE SPATIAL LEGACY OF INFORMAL EMPIRE: OIL,THE SOVIET UNION,AND THE CONTOURS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA'S FAR WEST

Abstract

Beginning in the 1930s, Soviet geologists, engineers, and economic planners began laying the infrastructure of informal empire in China's westernmost province of Xinjiang. Seeking to gain access to its rich petroleum wealth in particular, these Soviet state agents helped create a blueprint for state investment and development in Xinjiang that continues to resonate today. Confronting the substantial Soviet investment in the province and driven by a border policy intent on minimizing capital expenditures for distant peripheries, economic planners in the Republic of China and the People's Republic alike relied heavily on Soviet reports, technology, and infrastructure in their own economic development plans. In the end, the efforts of Chinese and Soviet planners, often working in collaboration, helped create an enduring pattern of state investment in Xinjiang. Focusing on oil extraction, processing, and transport operations in Xinjiang, this work reveals the long-term resonances of informal empire in Chinese border regions.     

Public Intellectuals, Online Media, and Public Spheres: Current Realignments

The phenomenon of public intellectuals (PIs) continue to be debated, as their status and significance evolve under changing historical circumstances. I suggest PIs still play an important role in democracies, despite alterations in their circumstances, activities, and practices. While most of the familiar questions remain, it is important to take into account a number of changes that impact on PIs, their situation, and their activities. I explore the contingencies that make possible, as well as delimit and alter, the phenomenon of PIs in contemporary democratic societies. The discussion is organised around three sets of evolving circumstances in which PIs are inexorably embedded: the structural setting of mediated public spheres, with a particular emphasis on the online sector; the dynamic realm of practices associate with online civic participation more broadly; and lastly, the cultural and political climate of democratic societies confronted by serious dilemmas. The interface of these circumstances is ushering PIs into a new historical phase, where the web obviously looms large yet where the contours are still taking shape. These circumstances put new demands on PIs.     

Le théologien et le somnambule: un épisode récent de l'histoire almoravide en Mauritanie

In 2012, images of a mystical mermaid known locally as Mami Wata circulated on the Internet and via people's mobile phones, sparking rumours that Chinese labourers had captured her as they were installing underwater fibreoptic cables. Appearing as a grotesque sea-creature with a gnarled, shrivelled body, this new image of Mami Wata challenges older, popular depictions of her as a beautiful maiden. Further, in her deformed body, Mami Wata reveals new tensions arising from promises of wealth and modernisation promoted by both Chinese and Congolese governments. Accounts of rumours/urban legends and metaphors of contagion animate larger contemporary discussions concerning development projects, “otherness” and the influence of the Internet and mobile phone technology on production of popular African culture. The female siren, Mami Wata, is a recurring motif in Kinshasa's collective urban imaginary. Historically she has been an expression of modernity and hybridity through visual representation in popular painting, sculpture and television serials. Now Mami Wata appears in the digital world. In this article, in addition to analysing the ways in which contemporary technology mediates this archetypal figure, I draw on notions of otherness, recent historical, political and economic changes in the Democratic Republic of Congo to analyse the ways they inform the particular shape and meaning that Mami Wata takes when transformed into the digital domain.     

Public funds for private enterprise: The international finance corporation 1

In a recent article Helleiner [1974: 351] argues that the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) scheme has operated in such a way as to transfer real resources from developed countries (DCs) to less developed countries (LDCs). Helleiner attempts to substantiate this claim empirically by examining the net acquisition of SDRs which has been made by DCs, and the net use of SDRs which has been made by LDCs since the SDR facility was established. In this article it is suggested that, although the SDR agreement has, indeed, served to create an ‘informal’ SDR/aid link, net use data taken at face value do not necessarily reflect the extent or nature of this informal link.     

Shifting the Risk: New Employment Patterns, Informalization, and Women's Work

The paper argues that the processes of informalization of jobs observed during the past decades have affected both high and low income countries. Starting at the micro level of the firm, the emphasis is on how economic restructuring and globalization have generated the growth of informal activities—resulting in the vicious circle of poverty and economic insecurity for an important proportion of the population. The second part of the paper analyzes the growth of women's participation in informal activities, emphasizing that there are contradictory forces at work regarding women's employment. Despite a stubborn persistence of gender discrimination and obstacles to women's advancement, progress has taken place on several fronts, such as in the education field and in the absorption of female labor in many production processes. The paper concludes by pointing out that poverty eradication programs must emphasize the need to generate decent jobs without which these programs will continue to be ineffective. In addition, re-distributive mechanisms and different forms of social protection are needed to counteract the forces and policies generating economic insecurity.     

Why are Informal Loans Still a Big Deal? Evidence from North-east Thailand

Abstract

This article examines the use and benefit of informal loans for different income groups of rural households in north-east Thailand. Using a difference-in-differences estimation approach, which is later complemented by propensity score matching, the article shows that different household groups profit from informal loans in different ways. Poor households increase their asset endowment, and in particular farming assets, whereas rich households’ (food) consumption rises, especially if households borrow due to a shock. By showing that informal loans serve different households for different purposes, this article provides an explanation why they still play an important role.     

Economic Transformation Outside the Law: Corruption,Trust in Public Institutions and the Informal Economy in Transition Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

This article considers the role of the informal economy in Central and Eastern European post-communist countries. The informal economy is defined as the ‘black’ economy, which is monetised but outside the law (often illegal) on the one hand and the ‘household’ and ‘social’ economies which are non-monetised and non-legal in the sense that they are outside of legislation. The article shows that in some countries the black economy is very important for supporting household incomes (Serbia and Croatia) and in other countries the household or social economies are predominant (especially Romania and Ukraine). In a third group of countries the formal economy predominates over other economies (especially the Czech Republic and Hungary). The article goes on to look at what kinds of people participate in these different economies and concludes that whilst the household and social economies are a social safety net for the poor, the elderly and those in rural areas, the black economy is more likely to be an option for those who are already better off to improve their incomes. The article considers the implications of this for attitudes to the legitimacy of the public realm and finds that greater participation in the informal economy is associated with both loss of trust in public institutions and increased perception of corruption. Therefore it is hypothesised that economic activities that take place ‘outside the law’ could lead to a decline in confidence in the state, although there are important variations between countries.     

“Asking Around”: Immigrants' Counterstrategies to Renew Their Residence Permit in Times of Economic Crisis in Italy

In contrast to the main body of literature focusing on irregular migrants' counterstrategies, this article explores regular migrant workers' practices to renew their residence permit in an attempt to circumvent structural hurdles due to the restrictive Italian legislative framework. Studying migrants' agency in a socioeconomic context, characterized by high unemployment rates and extensive informal working patterns, I thus distinguish three main counterstrategies: (1) the use of their informal networks to falsify their working relations; (2) the possibility of starting up an individual firm; and (3) taking advantage of structural “loopholes.”     

Economic and Security Regionalism among Patrimonial Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Central Asia

The ‘new regionalism’ has spread to Central Asia; yet there has been little success in implementing most regional initiatives there. Security regionalism has had greater success than economic regionalism, even though economic initiatives would bring great benefits to the economy and population. I propose a connection between patrimonialism and regionalism. Central Asia's patrimonial leaders are driven by survival and personal enrichment, and are beholden to informal vested interests. Since economic regionalism involves liberalisation that adversely affects these actors, the result is ‘virtual’ economic regionalism at best. In the case of security regionalism, some regional organisations progress because they bolster patrimonial regimes, with negative consequences for democracy.     

The Ur-History of Media Space: Walter Benjamin and the Information Industry in Nineteenth-Century Paris

This essay is primarily concerned with Walter Benjamin’s analysis of the newspaper as a media space with reference to privatization of urban space, industrialization of public communication, and mediazation of public space in nineteenth-century Paris. I seek to show how the information industry brought about the fundamental changes in literary practice, intellectual activity, and the formation of a new social subject. I also demonstrate how Benjamin’s rich illustration of the complex dynamics of media space in the nineteenth century largely avoids the shortcomings of oversimplification embedded in the analysis of the bourgeois public sphere. In doing so, I argue Benjamin’s critical analysis that the newspaper provides a systematic framework by which to examine the intersection between the media space and the urban experience in a digital age.

Which Institutions are Good for Your Health? The Deep Determinants of Comparative Cross-country Health Status

We extend the literature on the deep determinants of economic development by focusing on life expectancy, instead of income per capita, as an indicator of economic development, and by examining the role of informal, as well as formal, institutions. Our empirical results suggest that formal and informal institutions are substitutes. Improving informal institutions has positive effects on life expectancy that are statistically significant for most countries and stronger than the effects of improving formal institutions. The gains from improving informal institutions are greatest for countries in which institutions are weakest. Geographical factors also help explain cross-country variation in life expectancy.     

When the lifeboat is overloaded: social support and state enterprise reform in China

Based on a survey of `off-duty workers' in Guangzhou, this paper explores the changing structure of social support in China. It focuses on the material aid and guidance in job search received by these workers. It concludes that while the state and its enterprises still play an important role in workers' economic life, informal social networks have become more pertinent. These social support networks reduce workers' dependence on the state and provide a social buffer for the transformation of state socialism into market socialism. They also imply a revival of autonomous space in a society that will have more resources to negotiate with the state in the future.