PSC 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Clientelism
7 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
Informal institutions: institutions that are not formally codified in official documents. Attributes of informal institutions: have sanctions, either through mechanisms of social exclusion or mechanisms that restrict access to much needed goods and services, known and recognized publicly, source of legitimacy accepted by society. Informal (political) institutions: socially shared rules, usually unwritten, that are created, communicated, and enforced outside of officially sanctioned channels. Formal institutions are incomplete, cannot cover all contingencies. May be a second best strategy for those who prefer, but cannot achieve, a formal institutional solution, ex. Pursuit of goals not considered publicly acceptable. Process of informal institutional emergence: top-down. Informal institutions may be a product of elite design and imposition. Corruption, clientelism, blat (informal market in soviet union: historical. Unintended product of particular conflicts and compromises. Distinguishing informal institutions: informal institutions are not weak formal institutions. Formal institutional weakness does not imply the presence of informal institutions.
