The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 1
Towards Understanding of Social and Cultural Complexity
Alena Ledeneva (Editor)
Series: FRINGE
Alena Ledeneva invites you on a voyage of discovery, to explore society’s open secrets, unwritten rules and know-how practices. Broadly defined as ‘ways of getting things done’, these invisible yet powerful informal practices tend to escape articulation in official discourse. They include emotion-driven exchanges of gifts or favours and tributes for services, interest-driven know-how (from informal welfare to informal employment and entrepreneurship), identity-driven practices of solidarity, and power-driven forms of co-optation and control. The paradox, or not, of the invisibility of these informal practices is their ubiquity. Expertly practised by insiders but often hidden from outsiders, informal practices are, as this book shows, deeply rooted all over the world, yet underestimated in policy. Entries from the five continents featured in this volume are samples of the truly global and ever-growing collection, made possible by a remarkable collaboration of over 200 scholars across disciplines and area studies.
By mapping the grey zones, blurred boundaries, types of ambivalence and contexts of complexity, this book creates the first Global Map of Informality. The accompanying database is searchable by region, keyword or type of practice, so do explore what works, how, where and why!
*Praise for *The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality
**
**{::}**‘Suited for graduate students, scholars, and professionals. Recommended.’
**{::}Choice
‘This unique work collaborates with more than two hundred scholars across the globe, illustrating how informal practices are deeply embedded across the planet, playing a crucial role in truly “getting anything done” while still remaining underestimated in policy-making procedures and business life. The book puts international human behavior into perspective, and is wholly mesmerizing.’
Philly Biz Leaders’ Must-Read Books of 2018, Philadelphia Magazine
‘The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality represents the beginning of a new era in informality studies. With its wealth of information, diversity, scope, theoretical innovation and artistic skill, this collection touches on all the aspects of social and cultural complexity that need to be integrated into policy thinking.’
Predrag Cvetičanin, Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe, Belgrade, Serbia
‘This is a monumental achievement – an indispensable reference for anyone in the social sciences interested in informality.’
Martin Holbraad, Professor of Social Anthropology, UCL, and editor-in-chief of Social Analysis
‘This impressive work helps us understand our complex times by showing how power develops through informal practices, mobilizing emotional, cognitive and relational mechanisms in strategies of survival, but also of camouflage and governance.’
Donatella della Porta, Director of Centre of Social Movements Studies, Scuola normale superiore, Firenze, Italy
‘An impressive, informative, and intriguing collection. With evident passion and patience, the team of 250 researchers insightfully portrays the multiplicity of informal and often invisible expressions of human interdependence.’
Subi Rangan, Professor of Strategy and Management, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
‘This compendium of terms used in different cultures to express aspects of informal economy provides a unique supplement to studies of a major (yet understated by academic economics) social issue. It will be of key significance for in-depth teaching of sociology, economics and history.’
Teodor Shanin, OBE Professor and President of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences
‘Modern states have sought to curb, control and subdue informality. The entries in the Global Encyclopaedia demonstrate the endurance of informality over such efforts. More recently, the rise and political success of anti-establishment movements in so many parts of the world is a wide-ranging challenge and delegitimisation of national and transnational formal institutions of governance. Understanding the perceived shortcomings of formal institutions and the appeal of anti-establishment movements must at least in part be informed by a study of informality and its networks. This Encyclopaedia is essential reading if we wish to understand and engage with these challenges of our age.’
Fredrik Galtung, Chairman, Integrity Action
PART I RedistributionThe substantive ambivalence: relationships vs use of relationships
Preface by Alena Ledeneva
1 Neither gift nor commodity: the instrumentality of sociability
**Introduction: economies of favours by Nicolette Makovicky and David Henig
1.1 Blat (Russia) by Alena Ledeneva
1.2 Jeitinho (Brazil) by Fernanda de Paiva
1.3 Sociolismo (Cuba) by Matthew Cherneski
1.4 Compadrazgo (Chile) by Larissa Adler Lomnitz
1.5 Pituto (Chile) by Dana Brablec Sklenar
1.6 Štela (Bosnia and Herzegovina) by Čarna Brković and Karla Koutkova
1.7 Veza (Serbia) by Dragan Stanojevic and Dragana Stokanic
1.8 Vrski (Macedonia) by Justin Otten
1.9 Vruzki (Bulgaria) by Tanya Chavdarova
1.10 Natsnoboba (Georgia) by Huseyn Aliyev
1.11 Tanish-bilish (Uzbekistan) by Rano Turaeva
1.12 Guanxi (China) by Mayfair Yang
1.13 Inmaek/Yonjul (South Korea) by Sven Horak
1.14 Tapş (Azerbaijan) by Leyla Sayfutdinova
1.15 Agashka (Kazakhstan) by Natsuko Oka
1.16 Zalatwianie (Poland) by Paulina Pieprzyca
1.17 Vitamin B (Germany) by Ina Kubbe
1.18 Jinmyaku (Japan) by Sven Horak
1.19 Jaan-pehchaan (India) by Denise Dunlap
1.20 Aidagara (Japan) by Yoshimichi Sato
1.21 Amici, amigos (Mediterranean and Latin America) by Christian Giordano
Conclusion: managing favours in a global economy by Sheila M. Puffer and Daniel J. McCarthy
2 Neither gift nor payment: the sociability of instrumentality
Introduction: vernaculars of informality by Nicolette Makovicky and David Henig
125 2.1 Okurimono no shûkan (Japan) by Katherine Rupp
2.2 Songli (China) by Liang Han
2.3 Hongbao (China) by Lei Tan
2.4 L’argent du carburant (sub-Saharan Africa) by Thomas Cantens
2.5 Paid favours (UK) by Colin C. Williams
2.6 Egunje (Nigeria) by Dhikru Adewale Yagboyaju
2.7 Baksheesh (Middle East, North Africa and sub-continental Asia) by James McLeod-Hatch
2.8 Magharich’ (Armenia) by Meri Avetisyan
2.9 Kalym (Russia) by Jeremy Morris
2.10 Mita (Romanian Gabor Roma) by Péter Berta
2.11 Pozornost’/d’akovné/všimné (Slovakia) by Andrej Školkay
2.12 Biombo (Costa Rica) by Bruce M. Wilson and Evelyn Villarreal Fernández
2.13 Mordida (Mexico) by Claudia Baez-Camargo
2.14 Coima (Argentina) by Cosimo Stahl
2.15 Chorizo (Latin America) by Evelyn Villarreal Fernández and Bruce M. Wilson
2.16 Aploksne/aploksnīte (Latvia) by Iveta Kažoka and Valts Kalnins
2.17 Fakelaki (Greece) by Daniel M. Knight
2.18 Cash for access (UK) by Jonathan Webb
2.19 Korapsen (Papua New Guinea) by Grant W. Walton
2.20 Bustarella (Italy) by Simona Guerra
2.21 Dash (Nigeria and other West African countries) by Daniel Jordan Smith
Conclusion: ‘interested’ vs ‘disinterested’ giving: defining extortion, reciprocity and pure gifts in the connected worlds by Florence Weber
Part II: Solidarity
The normative ambivalence of double standards: ‘us’ vs ‘them’
Preface by Alena Ledeneva
3 Conformity: the lock-in effect of social ties
Introduction: group identity and the ambivalence of norms by Eric Gordy
Kinship lock-in
3.1 Adat (Chechnya) by Nicolè M. Ford
3.2 Ch’ir (Chechnya and Ingushetia) by Emil Aslan Souleimanov
3.3 Uruuchuluk (Kyrgyzstan) by Aksana Ismailbekova
3.4 Rushyldyq (Kazakhstan) by Dana Minbaeva and Maral Muratbekova-Touron
3.5 Yongo (South Korea) by Sven Horak
3.6 Kumstvo (Montenegro and the Balkans) by Klavs Sedlenieks
3.7 Azganvan popokhutyun (Armenian diaspora in Georgia) by Anri Grigorian
3.8 Wantoks and kastom (Solomon Islands, Melanesia) by Gordon Leua Nanau
3.9 Bapakism (Indonesia) by Dodi W. Irawanto
Closed community lock-in
3.10 Krugovaia poruka (Russia and Europe) by Geoffrey Hosking
3.11 Janteloven/Jantelagen (Scandinavia) by Morten Jakobsen
3.12 Hyvä Veli (Finland) by Besnik Shala
3.13 Old boy network (UK) by Philip Kirby
3.14 Klüngel (Germany) by Lea Gernemann
3.15 Vetterliwirtschaft/Copinage (Switzerland) by Lucy Koechlin
3.16 Tal (alt. taljenje, taliti, utaliti, rastaliti) (Serbia and countries of former Yugoslavia) by Danko Runić
3.17 Mateship (Australia) by Bob Pease
Semi-closed lock-in 277 3.18 Sitwa (Poland) by Piotr Koryś and Maciej Tymiński
3.19 Barone universitario (Italy) by Simona Guerra
3.20 Keiretsu (Japan) by Katsuki Aoki
3.21 Kanonieri qurdebi (Georgia) by Alexander Kupatadze
3.22 Silovye Gruppirovki (Bulgaria) by Igor Mitchnik
3.23 Omertà (Italy) by Anna Sergi
3.24 Nash chelovek (Russia) by Åse Berit Grødeland and Leslie Holmes
Modern and youth solidarities
3.25 Birzha (Georgia) by Costanza Curro
3.26 Dizelaši (Serbia) by Elena G. Stadnichenko
3.27 Normalnye patsany (Russia) by Svetlana Stephenson
3.28 Futbolna frakcia (Bulgaria) by Kremena Iordanova
Conclusion: organic solidarity and informality – two irreconcilable concepts? by Christian Giordano
Bibliography to Chapter 3
4 The unlocking power of non-conformity: cultural resistance vs political opposition
Introduction: the grey zones between cultural and political by Peter Zusi
4.1 Artistic repossession (general) by Christina Ezrahi
4.2 Magnitizdat (Russia) by James Taylor 342 x
4.3 Roentgenizdat (Russia) by James Taylor 346 4.4 Samizdat (USSR) by Jillian Forsyth
4.5 Materit’sya (Russia) by Anastasia Shekshnya
4.6 Padonki language (Russia) by Larisa Morkoborodova
4.7 Verlan (France) by Rebecca Stewart
362 4.8 Avos’ (Russia) by Caroline Humphrey
4.9 Graffiti (general) by Milena Ciric
4.10 Hacktivism (general) by Alex Gekker
Conclusion: ambiguities of accommodation, resistance and rebellion by Jan Kubik
Bibliography to Chapter 4
Concluding remarks to Volume 1: what is old and what is new in the dialectics of ‘us’ and ‘them’? Zygmunt Bauman
Glossary
Index
**
**
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781911307907
Number of pages: 464
Number of illustrations: 54
Publication date: 17 January 2018
PDF ISBN: 9781911307907
EPUB ISBN: 9781911307877
Hardback ISBN: 9781911307884
Paperback ISBN: 9781911307891
Alena Ledeneva (Editor) 
Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project (in-formality.com). She authored the trilogy on Russia: Russia's Economy of Favours (1998), How Russia Really Works (2006) and Can Russia Modernize? (2013), and edited The Global Encyclopedia of Informality. Vols. 1-3 (2018, 2024).
Philly Biz Leaders’ Must-Read Books of 2018: ‘This unique work collaborates with more than two hundred scholars across the globe, illustrating how informal practices are deeply embedded across the planet, playing a crucial role in truly “getting anything done” while still remaining underestimated in policy-making procedures and business life. The book puts international human behavior into perspective, and is wholly mesmerizing.’
Philadelphia Magazine
‘Suited for graduate students, scholars, and professionals. Recommended.’
Choice
‘This unique work collaborates with more than two hundred scholars across the globe, illustrating how informal practices are deeply embedded across the planet, playing a crucial role in truly “getting anything done” while still remaining underestimated in policy-making procedures and business life. The book puts international human behavior into perspective, and is wholly mesmerizing.’
Philly Biz Leaders’ Must-Read Books of 2018, Philadelphia Magazine
‘The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality represents the beginning of a new era in informality studies. With its wealth of information, diversity, scope, theoretical innovation and artistic skill, this collection touches on all the aspects of social and cultural complexity that need to be integrated into policy thinking.’ – Predrag Cvetičanin
‘An impressive, informative, and intriguing collection. With evident passion and patience, the team of 250 researchers insightfully portrays the multiplicity of informal and often invisible expressions of human interdependence.’
Subi Rangan, Professor of Strategy and Management, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
‘Don’t mistake these weighty volumes for anything directory-like or anonymous. This wonderful collection of short essays, penned by many of the single best experts in their fields, puts the reader squarely in the kinds of conversations culled only after years of friendship, trust, and with the keen eye of the practiced observer. Perhaps most importantly, the remarkably wide range of offerings lets us ‘de-parochialise’ corruption, and detach it from the usual hyper-local and cultural explanations. The reader, in the end, is the one invited to consider the many and striking commonalities.’ – Bruce Grant, Professor at New York University and Chair of the US National Council for East European and Eurasian Research
‘This compendium of terms used in different cultures to express aspects of informal economy provides unique supplement to studies of a major yet badly understated by academic economics’ social issue. It will be of major significance for in-depth teaching of sociology, economics and history.’
Teodor Shanin, OBE Professor and President of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences
‘Alena Ledeneva’s Global Encyclopedia of Informality is a unique contribution, providing a global atlas of informal practices through the contributions of over 200 scholars across the world. It is far more rewarding for the reader to discover how commonalities of informal behavior become apparent through this rich texture like a complex and hidden pattern behind local colors than to presume top down universal benchmarks of good versus bad behavior. This book is a plea against reductionist approaches of mathematics in social science in general, and corruption studies in particular and makes a great read, as well as an indispensable guide to understand the cultural richness of the world.’ – Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin
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