Informality in the Western Balkans: a culture, a contextual rational choice, or both?

ABSTRACT

Using data compiled during extensive survey research carried out in the societies of the Western Balkans, we attempt to contribute to the discussion on whether informality, which in this region is largely present even in formal settings, is a consequence of a specific culture brought about by particular historical circumstances – several centuries of Ottoman rule, delayed modernization, and the legacy of socialism – or whether it is a manifestation of a contextualized rational choice, embodied as a response to the transitional environment in which citizens live. Trying to contribute to these deliberations and create a new basis for the better understanding of these ‘informal ways of getting things done’, we operationalize two sets of indicators that speak in favour of one or the other standpoint. We apply Multiple Correspondence Analysis and regression methods, but the complexity of the analysis produced results that defy simple oppositions. However, we identified perceptions of the level of informality, lack of trust in institutions and readiness to justify informality as the strongest predictors of informal practices, with a non-linear relationship between the age of respondents and their involvement in informal practices, and a rather weak correlation with indicators of their economic, social and cultural capital.

KEYWORDS:

• informality
• culture
• perceptions
• attitudes
• trust
• informal practices
• Western Balkans

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank their colleagues from the INFORM project, Marta Veličković for translating the article, Eric Gordy for proofreading, Mirko Petrić for his insightful comments and two anonymous reviewers who helped us to find the focus of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

1. See: Šimić Banović 2019; Williams and Bezeredi 2018; Brković 2017; Williams and Yang 2017; Williams and Franić 2017. Cvejić 2016; Williams and Franić 2016; Williams and Martínez 2014; Sedlenieks 2013; Barić and Williams 2012; Efendić et al. 2011; articles in the volume edited by Giordano and Hayoz 2013; and the entries in The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality volume I and II, edited by Alena Ledeneva (2018).

2. The term ‘Western Balkans’ is used by the institutions of the European Union to refer to those Balkan countries that are not members of the European Union. It includes five former constituent parts of the Yugoslav federation: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, and Albania. These countries are all in various phases of accession to the EU. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo* are potential membership candidates; North Macedonia and Albania have the official status of EU membership candidates, while Montenegro and Serbia are in the process of EU accession negotiations.

3. Our study of the literature of informality was guided by the works of Alena Ledeneva (especially Ledeneva 2012).

4. Italics added.

5. For statements to the contrary, those regarding the extent to which it is possible to get a job based on merit, education and experience in their societies, the average score was below 5.

6. For example, for the various examples of informal practices, we asked them ‘have you ever been in such a situation that you had to do that,’ or asked them about informal connections in public institutions (‘should you or someone from your household be unable to take care of any business in the regular way, do you have anyone whom you could ask for help in: the police, the courts, the municipal government, etc.’).

7. Except in Kosovo*, where this percentage is lower, 9.6%.

8. These are practices of looking for informal services in public institutional systems, which have been the focus in our research project.

9. The probable reason for that is that, unlike employment in the informal economic sector, the practice of giving gifts, providing favours or money, or finding contacts in order to get informal services, require possession of certain amounts of capitals.

10. For the second model, 3892 respondents had valid answers (non-missing) on all the used variables, and 1071 of them had personal involvement in informal practice.

11. These variables were based on the responses to the following questions: ‘Please tell me whether, in your opinion, the following behaviours can always be justified, can never be justified, or something in between: (a) using connections for getting things done; (b) evading taxes; and (c) accepting/giving a bribe’.

12. Besides a survey of 6040 respondents, our databases include 442 semi-structured interviews, diaries from 36 months of ethnographic work, 11 case studies and more than 2000 journal articles.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant № 693537

Notes on contributors

Predrag Cvetičanin

Predrag Cvetičanin Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Niš and the director of the independent research institute, the Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of Southeast Europe. He acted as a coordinator of the research activities within the Horizon 2020 project ‘Closing the Gap between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans’ and holds a PhD in Sociology from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. He has coordinated many national and international research projects dealing with informal practices, household strategies, classification struggles, as well as the relationship between cultural and social stratification in South-East European societies.

Misha Popovikj

Misha Popovikj is research coordinator at the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’ Skopje. He holds an MA in Identity, Culture and Power at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London and BA in political studies from the University ‘Saints Cyril and Methodius’ from Skopje, Macedonia. His current focus is in the areas of corruption and informality and he has published policy briefs, papers and reports on these issues. Previously he has published papers and chapters in the areas of civic and political participation, nationalism, political culture and resistance to social change.

Miloš Jovanović

Miloš Jovanović is assistant professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University in Niš, and a researcher at the Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of Southeast Europe. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš. From 2016–2019 he worked as a researcher in the HORIZON 2020 project ‘Closing the Gap Between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans’ (INFORM). His scientific interests include: sociological studies of knowledge, sexuality, gender and religion. His recent book is entitled Identity, Religiosity, Sexuality: Identity Problem of Religious LGBTs in Serbia (2016).