Can Russia Modernise Sistema Power Networks And Informal Governance Alena V Ledeneva by Alena V. Ledeneva 9780511978494, 9780521110822, 9780521125635, 9781107302013, 9781299276260, 0511978499, 0521110823, 0521125634, 1107302013 instant download after payment.

In this original, bottom-up account of the evolution of contemporary Russia, Alena Ledeneva seeks to reveal how informal power operates. Concentrating on Vladimir Putin's system of governance – referred to as sistema – she identifies four key types of networks: his inner circle, useful friends, core contacts and more diffuse ties and connections. These networks serve sistema but also serve themselves. Reliance on networks enables leaders to mobilise and to control, yet they also lock politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen into informal deals, mediated interests and personalised loyalty. This is the "modernisation trap of informality": one cannot use the potential of informal networks without triggering their negative long-term consequences for institutional development. Ledeneva's perspective on informal power is based on in-depth interviews with sistema insiders and enhanced by evidence of its workings brought to light in court cases, enabling her to draw broad conclusions about the prospects for Russia's political institutions.
• The concept of sistema provides a new angle on the paradoxes of Russian modernisation, contributing both to the modernisation debate and to literature regarding governance in Russia
• Features exclusive sources of information following interviews with insiders of sistema
• Provides original information on the working of power networks — vertushka, allowing readers to see both local and global implications of sistema