Informal payments and connections in post-Soviet Kazakhstan

Abstract

In Soviet times, useful contacts had more value than money, and getting things done through unofficial channels of personal relations was a socially accepted norm. What changes have market reforms brought to Kazakhstan in these areas? This article details the use of informal payments and connections in Almaty and examines why non-monetary exchange of favours is increasingly being replaced by the immediate exchange of cash for assistance. This article argues that urban residents are becoming more inclined to quickly return a favour through cash and evade the lengthy exchanges involved in building reciprocal relationships, a practice widely accepted during Soviet times. This article also focuses on the importance of personal contacts in monetized exchange and demonstrates that cash payment is not a least preferred strategy for those who lack necessary networks. Urban residents in Kazakhstan in fact actively mobilize their personal networks to effectively and securely exchange monetary rewards.

Keywords:

• informal payments
• connections
• reciprocity
• marketization
• Kazakhstan

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Bhavna Dave and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions regarding this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Interview, Kazakh man in his forties, Almaty, 2 August 2011.

2. See e.g. the survey results of Sange Research Center, a Kazakhstani private think tank specializing in corruption studies. The survey asked individuals and organizations who had interactions with 34 public institutions over the preceding 18 months about ‘informal services’ in 2006. In total, 5760 individuals and organizations were interviewed across Kazakhstan (Turisbekov et al. 2007).

3. Interview, Russian man in his forties, Almaty, 2 November 2011.

4. This is not to say that kin-identity divisions have remained unchanged since pre-modern times. It was the Soviet command economy that served to perpetuate pre-existing kin networks of access (Schatz 2004).

5. Interview, Kazakh woman in her forties, Almaty, 4 November 2011.

6. It should be noted that quite often it is unclear whether the driver actually violated the rules, as the traffic police officer may simply have used that position's authority to wrongly accuse the driver of a violation with the aim of extorting money. Even if the driver is convinced that no traffic rule was violated, it is extremely difficult to prove one's innocence in court.

7. Interview, Russian woman in her forties, Almaty, 28 October 2011.

8. Interview, Kazakh woman in her fifties, Almaty, 28 May 2014.

9. Interview, Kazakh woman in her forties, Almaty, 10 August 2011.

10. Interview, Russian woman in her fifties, 2 December 2011.

11. Interview, Kazakh woman in her forties, Almaty, May 26, 2014.

12. Interview, Kazakh man in his forties, Almaty, 31 October 2011.

13. Interview, Kazakh man in his twenties, Almaty, 11 June 2011.

14. Interview, Kazakh woman in her forties, Almaty, 8 November 2011.

15. Interview, Kazakh woman in her forties, Almaty, 4 November 2011.

16. Interview, Kazakh woman in her forties, Almaty, 26 May 2014.