Institutions and the Importance of Social Control in a Nation's Development

Inquiries into institutional change are relatively new to post-transition Russia. Unlike most studies, this inquiry draws attention to thinking of social control that is aimed, not at changing, but rather at retaining institutions. In this vein, I argue that the retention of institutions can and does indeed play a crucial role in the economic and social development of selected nation-states. I accept the notion that institutions are constantly evolving. However, new institutions both inherit from the past and move forward, evolving into foundational institutional structures. This is what I shall define as institutional matrices that could be thought of as preexisting. These institutional matrices suggest that later emerging institutions do not necessarily pose dramatic and opposing challenges, but rather contribute to the continuity of evolutionary institutional developments. My understanding of institutional matrices includes an analysis of a dominant institutional structure defined by X- and Y-matrices. Attempts at changing historically established institutional structures have, in many cases, resulted in catastrophic aftermaths for selected nations under consideration here. For contrast, I explore some successful national examples of relying upon social control to maintain an effective balance between dominant and complementary institutional matrices.