Comparative Analyses

Informality in Ukraine and beyond: one name, different flavours...with a cheer for the Global Encyclopaedia of Informality

By Abel Polese, Dublin City University, Ireland

In the essay, Abel Polese proposes a framework for classifying informal practices according to the context within which they are set: informal governance, shadow economy, informal payments and policy-making.

Informality and the social orders of access: the cases of dirt book and kompromat

By Giulio Benedetti, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL

The essay engages with Douglas North's idea of open- and limited-access societies and through a comparison of internal dynamics in elite groups developed through the dirt book and kompromat practices, challenges North's proposition.

Informal Practices in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Czech Republic and Greece

By Michelle Angert, Alumnus, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London

This essay compares informal practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, the Czech Republic and Greece across a number of sectors, among them employment, healthcare and elections.

Informal Practices in the UK, Russia, Monaco, and the Republic of Cyprus

By Charlotte Solomou, Alumna, School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, University College London

This essay analyses similar informal practices in the UK, Russia, Monaco, and the Republic of Cyprus and highlights why it is problematic to treat corruption as an intra-national issue.

Comparative analysis video interviews: Insights from East Africa and Eurasia

Find more videos on informality here.