Interview with Prof. Alena Ledeneva: Thriving on the Fringe

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED EXPERT ON INFORMAL GOVERNANCE IN RUSSIA, PROFESSOR ALENA LEDENEVA, IN CONVERSATION WITH SLOVO’S EXECUTIVE EDITOR BORIMIR TOTEV.

Alena Ledeneva is a Professor of Politics and Society at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. Her research interests include corruption, informal economy, economic crime, informal practices in corporate governance, and role of networks and patron-client relationships in Russia and around the globe. Her books ‘Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking, and Informal Exchange’ (Cambridge University Press, 1998), ‘How Russia Really Works: Informal Practices in the 1990s’ (Cornell University Press, 2006), and ‘Can Russia Modernize? Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance’ (Cambridge University Press, 2013) have become must-read sources in Russian studies and social sciences. She received her PhD in Social and Political Theory from Cambridge University. Currently, she is the pillar leader of the multi-partner ANTICORRP.eu research project and also works on the Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, The Global Informality Project, and the FRINGE CENTRE: Centre for the Study of Social and Cultural Complexity. 

Read full text here.