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T26SOC


Varieties of informality in Eurasian spaces (and beyond)  
Convenors:
Margherita Gobbat (Center for Social Sciences, Georgia. University of Bremen, Germany)
Abel Polese (Dublin City University)
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Discussant:
Donnacha Ó Beacháin (Dublin City University)
Format:
Panel
Theme:
Sociology & Social Issues
Location:
704 (Floor 7)
Sessions:
Sunday 9 June, -
Time zone: Asia/Almaty

Abstract:

Informality is thriving. A simple academic search of the word generates over 100,000 results across several disciplines, including informal economy (Hart 1973), informal housing (Turner 1968), informal land management (Leaf 1992), and informal planning (Roy 2005 cited in Boanada-Fuchs and Fuchs 2018, 414). Yet, literature remains scattered. This panel foots on a recent taxonomy of informality that, under the definition of “the art of bypassing the state” (Polese 2023) sees informality coming in four main flavours (Polese 2018) encompassing informal governnace and politics; shadow economy and informal labour; corruption and informal payments and everyday policymaking (this latter is inspired by Scott’s definition of infrapolitics). It explores a number of informal practices that have been identified by our panellists and that span from attempts to formalise informal financial mechanisms (Dufy 2024) to the everyday governance of de facto states (Le Pavic 2024). Furthermore, the panel explores the rules of engagement of domestic and international Kazakh companies (Kyzyrbek 2024) and Kazak consumers' views and purchasing behaviours, with an emphasis on unofficial economic activities (Aguzzi 2024). Finally, the panel explores the hidden rules of the wine industry in Georgia. Far from romanticising or orientalising these practices as unique and only belonging to the region, we seek to identify parallels and comparisons between power and reciprocity mechanisms that our authors have explored and the way these mechanisms contribute to the everyday governance not only of Eurasian states but, although in a different form, of possibly every government regardless of their cultural and political specificities.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Sunday 9 June, 2024, -