Networks, Institutions, and Economic Transformation
in Postsocialism

The Harriman Institute initiative unites a group of scholars in a year-long exchange on the social, institutional and cultural context of economic transformation in Russia and Eastern Europe. From different perspectives, scholars involved in the initiative investigate how rapid political and economic reforms during the first years of post-socialism led to the emergence of powerful economic actors, politicians well-connected to the economy, and fluid and contested institutions. By comparing countries and policy areas, the group seeks to generate insights about the varied impact of ties between politics and the economy on the path of transformation.

Seventeen years have passed since the process of reform began. Yet, deal-making and ties between businesspeople and politicians still greatly affect the performance of markets; the consolidation of institutions; and the process of policy-making in both the economically well-performing post-socialist countries and those that have fared poorly. Across the region, the tycoons and business groups that emerged in the 1990s have allied with or exercised pressure on politicians to shape the process of economic policy formulation. Politicians have also regularly used their personal networks and the power of office to intervene in the market. The result is a public sphere dominated by highly politicized markets, privately influenced politics, and dense formal and informal connections between the economy and the political elite.

The group is motivated by a desire to understand and compare the social structures that link post-socialist markets to politics, and the continued relevance of these social structures despite the replacement of socialist-era institutions with new ones suited to market economies and democratic polities. Although institutional transformation after 1989 scrambled the social and cultural systems and hierarchies of late-socialism, individuals naturally fought to reconfigure their social capital and retain political influence under the emergent institutions. By leveraging their common trajectories through socialist and/or post-socialist institutions, politicians and businesspeople struggled to bring institutional innovation in line with their own goals. Hence, the points of contact between politics and the economy - corporate boards, joint-ownership of corporations, business associations, political party organizations and social clubs - are an intentional and strategic result of nearly two decades of institutional change.

A key question for scholars of economic institutions has been to locate precisely the genesis of new institutions within the shifting but ever-potent force of social ties and the networks they constitute. The core working group is particularly interested in understanding how social and organizational relationships have been used to achieve individual or group goals in political and economic life and to influence the process of institutional design. Moreover, the initiative seeks to understand when and what types of ties contribute to governance and economic performance, and when ties constitute an obstacle.

Methodologically, the central aim of the Harriman Institute initiative is to bring together scholars working at the intersection of the network, institutional and cultural dimensions of economic transformation. The expected payoff is a broad cross-pollination of knowledge about developing institutional structures of the market, and the social and organizational ties of businesspeople and politicians that exist within or parallel to these institutions.

 

Project Activities

A Community of Scholars

By joining scholars with similar thematic interests, a wide spectrum of empirical knowledge and varied methodological skills, the Harriman Institute seeks to create the foundation for an agenda-setting year of research. The initiative will host two groups of scholars with the intention of creating a research community with lasting effects. A core group of post-doctoral fellows with research agendas and skills relevant to the year-long theme will be in residence at the Harriman Institute. A second, broader group of scholars from the tri-state area will participate in a regular seminar series, which will be the key meeting point for initiative participants.

Faculty and Student Seminar

Through the seminar series, initiative members will exchange ideas, present papers and discuss the cutting edge research of invited speakers. Meeting approximately every third week, distinguished outside speakers will present their work on topics related to the Harriman theme. Many of these outside researchers will be working on the countries of the region; some will be specialists in other areas; and others will be specialists who bring particularly exciting analytic concepts or innovative methods to the key research problems.

Publications

The project will disseminate information about the activities of the group through an electronic newsletter to a wider audience of affiliated scholars around the world. Beginning in 2006, a three-year working paper series will also present the research and findings of initiative members.

Graduate Seminar

During the Fall 2006 term, David Stark will offer a graduate seminar in the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) under the existing rubric, "Economic Transformations in New Democracies," devoted to the Harriman 2006-07 theme.

Thematic Conference

A conference will close the initiative year. This event will highlight the research of the postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, inviting outside distinguished speakers, and involving Columbia and outside faculty as discussants from a broad array of disciplines.