Alena Ledeneva's Books

How Russia Really Works

The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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How Russia Really Works

The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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.

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Page Count

292

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801470056

ISBN 13

9780801470059

Can Russia Modernise?

Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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Can Russia Modernise?

Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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

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Page Count

331

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521110823

ISBN 13

9780521110822

Can Russia Modernise?

Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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Can Russia Modernise?

Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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

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Page Count

331

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521110823

ISBN 13

9780521110822

Domesticating Neo-Liberalism

Spaces of Economic Practice and Social Reproduction in Post-Socialist Cities

By: Alison Stenning,Adrian Smith,Alena Rochovská,Dariusz Świątek

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Domesticating Neo-Liberalism

Spaces of Economic Practice and Social Reproduction in Post-Socialist Cities

By: Alison Stenning,Adrian Smith,Alena Rochovská,Dariusz Świątek

Based on in-depth research in Poland and Slovakia, Domesticating Neo-Liberalism addresses how we understand the processes of neo-liberalization in post-socialist cities. Builds upon a vast amount of new research data Examines how households try to sustain their livelihoods at particularly dramatic and difficult times of urban transformation Provides a major contribution to how we theorize the geographies of neo-liberalism Offers a conclusion which informs discussions of social policy within European Union enlargement

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Page Count

346

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1444391313

ISBN 13

9781444391312

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

A hitchhiker’s guide to informal problem-solving in human life

By: Alena Ledeneva

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The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

A hitchhiker’s guide to informal problem-solving in human life

By: Alena Ledeneva

For a post-human hitchhiker, human life – with its anxiety, ageing, illness and constant need for problem-solving – may look unviable. Yet, for humans, the life struggle is softened by human touch, human emotion and human cooperation. The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3 continues the journey of the two previous volumes into the world’s open secrets, unwritten rules and hidden practices. It focuses on issues of emotional ambivalence and pressures of the digital age. The informal practices presented in this volume demonstrate the urgency of alleviating tensions between continuity and all-too-rapid change and the need to tackle the central problem of modern societies – uncertainty. The volume takes a reader on a ‘biographical’ journey through elusive, taken-for-granted or banal ways of getting things done from over 70 countries and world regions. It offers innovative understanding of the significance of fringes, and challenges the assumption that informality is associated exclusively with poverty, underdevelopment, the Global South, oppressive regimes or the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It also maps the patterns of informality around the globe; identifies specific informal practices in a context-sensitive way; and documents their ambivalent impact on people engaged in problem-solving, on societies in which these problems arise, and on humanity overall. Praise for The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3 ‘This book tells a story of human cooperation. It is not the narrative you’ll find in books teaching you how to solve problems. It is an assemblage of something much more endemic, fundamentally human, and much more pervasive than we tend to think of informality. It involves money and power, but also the alternative currencies of gaining advantage or gaming the system.’ Bruce Schneier, author of A Hacker's Mind ‘Alena Ledeneva’s latest database of rule bending is a goldmine for documentary makers and storytellers. Entries from 70 countries, covering a human lifespan from Chinese “anchor babies” to funeral feasts in Azerbaijan, offer remarkable insights into the way the world really works.’ Lucy Ash, journalist

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669

Publisher

UCL Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1800086148

ISBN 13

9781800086142

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

A hitchhiker’s guide to informal problem-solving in human life

By: Alena Ledeneva

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The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

A hitchhiker’s guide to informal problem-solving in human life

By: Alena Ledeneva

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669

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UCL Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1800086148

ISBN 13

9781800086142

How Russia Really Works

The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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How Russia Really Works

The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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Page Count

292

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801470056

ISBN 13

9780801470059

Russia's Economy of Favours

Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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Russia's Economy of Favours

Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange

By: Alena V. Ledeneva

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.

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Page Count

260

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521627435

ISBN 13

9780521627436

Book's by Alena Ledeneva

How Russia Really Works

How Russia Really Works

Can Russia Modernise?

Can Russia Modernise?

Can Russia Modernise?

Can Russia Modernise?

Domesticating Neo-Liberalism

Domesticating Neo-Liberalism

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3

How Russia Really Works

How Russia Really Works

Russia's Economy of Favours

Russia's Economy of Favours

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