Why are informal practices still prevalent in Russia? -- Chernyi piar : dirty campaigning and the workings of Russian democracy -- Kompromat : the use of compromising information in informal politics -- Krugovaia poruka : sustaining the ties of joint responsibility -- Tenevoi barter : shadow...

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was the beginning of one of the most interesting natural experiments in recent history. The East German transition from a Communist state to part of the Federal Republic of Germany abruptly created a new social order as old institutions were abolished and new...