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Informal Practices in Changing Societies: Comparing Chinese Guanxi and Russian Blat

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  • Alena Ledeneva

    (UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies)

Abstract

The paper defines the key features of Chinese guanxi and Russian blat networks, explores similarities and differences in the use of these networks both in communist and post-communist economies, and discovers their ambiguous relationship with the formal institutions. Having compared guanxixue and blat in detail, one should conclude that people tend to develop similar responses (as well idioms) in order to survive in state centralised economies characterized by shortages, state distribution system and ideological predicaments. Guanxi and blat networks in pre-reform China and Russia played a similarly ambiguous role in these economies: on the one hand, they compensated for the defects of the formal rules thus enabling the declared principles of the economy to exist; on the other hand, they subverted them. There are also common trends in the transformation of informal practices in post-reform China and Russia. Before the reforms, both guanxixue and blat were often beneficial to ordinary people in allowing them to satisfy their personal needs and in organising their own lives, whereas now their shift into corruption benefits the official-business classes and hurts the bulk of society. Trust and social networks are vital components of both economies and will continue to exist (as elsewhere) but their implications for the transformation may differ. The post-Soviet reforms have changed the Soviet-type blat practices so much that blat has almost ceased to be a relevant term for the use of personal networks both in the state and in the new sectors of the economy. Being more culturally and historically grounded, the term guanxi has sustained and found its new use in contemporary China. There is much more discussion of guanxi and guanxi capitalism in China than ever has been on blat in Russia. The partiality of reforms in China and the communist rulership does not prevent foreign investment and economic success, and corruption is estimated as not as damaging in China as it is in Russia.

Suggested Citation

  • Alena Ledeneva, 2003. "Informal Practices in Changing Societies: Comparing Chinese Guanxi and Russian Blat," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 45, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    • Handle: RePEc:see:wpaper:45
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    File URL: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/17529/1/17529.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steve Lovett & Lee C Simmons & Raja Kali, 1999. "Guanxi Versus the Market: Ethics and Efficiency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 231-247, June.
    2. Standifird, Stephen S. & Marshall, R. Scott, 2000. "The transaction cost advantage of guanxi-based business practices," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 21-42, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Julija MICHAILOVA, 2009. "Gender, Corruption And Sustainable Growth In Transition Countries," Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Financial Management and Accounting Craiova, vol. 4(3(9)_Fall).
    2. Melkumov, Dmitri, 2009. "Institutional background as a determinant of boards of directors' internal and external roles: The case of Russia," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 94-103, January.
    3. Shijun Chai & Yang Chen & Bihong Huang & Dezhu Ye, 2019. "Social networks and informal financial inclusion in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 529-563, June.
    4. Sven Horak & Markus Taube & Inju Yang & Katja Restel, 2019. "Two not of a kind: Social network theory and informal social networks in East Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 349-372, June.
    5. Chai, Shijun & Chen, Yang & Huang, Bihong & Ye, Dezhu, 2018. "Social Networks and Informal Financial Inclusion in the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 802, Asian Development Bank Institute.

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