The word blat refers to the system of informal contacts and personal networks which was used to obtain goods and services under the rationing which characterise

The word blat refers to the system of informal contacts and personal networks which was used to obtain goods and services under the rationing which characterise

During the Soviet era, blat—the use of personal networks for obtaining goods and services in short supply and for circumventing formal procedures—was necess

A political ethnography of the inner workings of Putin's sistema, contributing to our understanding Russia's prospects for future modernisation.

Reveals the nature of Russian capitalism following the fall of the Soviet Union, showing the impact of both Soviet bureaucracy and global capital.