For several centuries, the Russians have been famous (or notorious) for the number of transactions they conduct through unofficial channels. This book, the first sustained attempt to explain and analyse Russian society's heavy reliance on unofficial 'give-and-take', focuses especially on two key practices: bribery (the use of public office for private gain) and blat (the informal exchange of favours). It brings together specialists from a wide range of disciplines (history, literary and cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, politics).

Preface Notes on the Contributors Introduction; A.Ledeneva, S.Lovell & A.Rogachevskii Payment, Gift or Bribe? Exploring the Boundaries in Pre-Petrine Russia; C.J.Potter Patrimonialism versus Rational Bureaucracy: On the Historical Relativity of Corruption; V.Volkov Bribery and Justice in the Provinces in the Reign of Catherine II: J.Hartley Self-Interested Giving: Bribery and Etiquette in Late Imperial Russia; C.Kelly Bureaucracy on Trial: A Malaise in Official Life as Represented in Nineteenth-Century Russian Thought; I.Davydova The Representation of Bribery in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature; A.Rogachevskii Reciprocity and the Soviet Culture Revolution: The Literary Perspective; S.Lovell Blat in Stalin's Time; S.Fitzpatrick Continuity and Change of Blat Practices in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia; A.Ledeneva Bribery as Reflected in the Russian Language; J.A.Dunn Bribery as Reflected in Contemporary Russia; C.Humphrey Attitudes to Bribery and Blat in Contemporary Russian Society: The Psychologist's View; V.Spiridonov Bureaucratic Encounters in Post-Communist Regimes: Evidence from Twenty-Six Focus Groups in the Former Soviet Union and East-Central Europe; W.L.Miller, T.Koshechkina & Å.Grodeland 'Who's the Boss: Us or the Law? The Corrupt Art of Governing Russia; M.Galeotti Index

Stephen Lovell is Junior Research Fellow at St. John's College, Oxford. Alena Ledeneva is Research Fellow of New Hall and Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University. Andrei Rogachevskii is Teaching Assistant at the University of Glasgow.