Informal Institutions in Azerbaijan: Exploring the Intricacies ofTapsh

Abstract

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Leveraging symbolic capital: the use of blat networks across transnational spaces

“…In the Arab world, wasta, which 'involves social networks of interpersonal connections rooted in family and kinship ties and implicating the exercise of power, influence, and information sharing through social and politico-business networks' (Hutchings and Weir 2006: 143), plays a vital role in everyday transactions (Hutchings and Weir 2006). Despite the diversity and scope of informal practices across different countries, the main purpose of these forms of informal behaviour is similar, namely to circumvent formal rules and provide beneficiaries with selectively redistributed favours and services (Aliyev 2017;Smith et al 2012).…”

Informal Practices in the Making of Professionals: The Case of Engineers in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

“…In addition to non-hierarchical practices of informal exchange, such as blat (Ledeneva, 1998) and collegial referrals (Riska and Novelskaite, 2011), we include hierarchical practices in our analysis. In the Azerbaijani context, the culturally embedded non-monetary practice of tapş is an important mechanism of bridging otherwise unconnected social groups (Aliyev, 2017;Sayfutdinova, 2018). Tapş involves one person asking another for a favour to be done for a third person.…”

“…The rise of bribery in higher education raises a question about the value of educational credentials. As Sadigov (2014) and Aliyev (2017) had demonstrated, in Azerbaijan, diplomas have become primarily status symbols, serving to mask nepotism in employment by providing the veneer of the formally transparent employment process. Our interviews suggest that qualifications, when supported by evidence of knowledge and skills, usually through referrals from trusted colleagues, also played a role in employment.…”

“…The existing studies on informality among post-Soviet highly skilled professionals have documented the proliferation of informal payments, particularly to doctors and teachers (Aliyev, 2017;Lonkila, 2010;Morris and Polese, 2014;Riska and Novelskaite, 2011;Round et al, 2008;Yakubovich, 2005). Yet we believe that the role of informality for post-Soviet professions and professionalism extends beyond this narrow understanding.…”

Ideologies and informality in urban infrastructure

“…4 Informal practices and the relevance of social networks were key components in the socialist 'economy of favours' (Ledeneva, 1998). In the case of Azerbaijan, many recent works well describe the prevalence, local characteristics and embeddedness of informality in the social, economic, political and everyday life of citizens (Aliyev, 2017;Safiyev, 2015;Sayfutdinova, 2015). But especially in the little discussed sphere of housing, informal practices by citizens and bureaucrats alike have played a major role in shaping both the Soviet and post-Soviet housing regime.…”