How Russia Really Works

Alena V. Ledeneva is a Reader in Russian Politics and Society at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. She is the author of Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking, and Informal Exchange and the coeditor of Economic Crime in Russia and Bribery and Blat in Russia.

• Introduction1. Why Are Informal Practices Still Prevalent in Russia?2. Chernyi Piar: Manipulative Campaigning and the Workings of Russian Democracy3. Kompromat: The Use of Compromising Information in Informal Politics4. Krugovaia Poruka: Sustaining the Ties of Joint Responsibility5. Tenevoi Barter: Shadow Barter, Barter Chains, and Nonmonetary Markets6. Dvoinaia Bukhgalteriia: Double Accountancy and Financial Scheming7. Post-Soviet Tolkachi: Alternative Enforcement and the Use of LawConclusionAppendixesAppendix 1. Pravda versus IstinaAppendix 2. Profile of the Leading National Media Outlets in the 1990sAppendix 3. "Bound by One Chain" by Nautilus PompilusAppendix 4. List of Legal Documents Related to Barter Transactions in the Russian Federation, 1990-1997Appendix 5. List of RespondentsAppendix 6. List of QuestionsNotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex

"Alena V. Ledeneva has not only observed Russia's transition at first hand but is also a resourceful researcher. Her first book, The Russian Economy of Favours,dealt with usages which arose in the later Soviet period, particularly blat—payments made in favours between friends and associates. Since then she has broadened her focus and developed her tools. In How Russia Really Works she manages to prise open the cover over the secret world a little more to peer at the scurrying life beneath."