Formal Institutions (formal + institution)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Entrepreneurship in Russia and China: The Impact of Formal Institutional Voids

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2010
Sheila M. Puffer
Transition economies are often characterized by underdeveloped formal institutions, often resulting in an unstable environment and creating a void usually filled by informal ones. Entrepreneurs in transition environments thus face more uncertainty and risk than those in more developed economies. This article examines the relationship of institutions and entrepreneurship in Russia and China in the context of institutional theory by analyzing private property as a formal institution, as well as trust and blat/guanxi as informal institutions. This article thus contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and institutional theory by focusing on these topics in transition economies, and by emphasizing how their relationship differs from that in developed economies. We conclude that full convergence toward entrepreneurs' reliance on formal institutions may not readily occur in countries like Russia and China due to the embeddedness of informal institutions. Instead, such countries and their entrepreneurs may develop unique balances between informal and formal institutions that better fit their circumstances. Implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurship in such environments are also offered. [source]


Elite Consensus as a Determinant of Alliance Cohesion: Why Public Opinion Hardly Matters for NATO-led Operations in Afghanistan

FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 3 2010
Sarah Kreps
Despite the increasing popularity of fighting wars through multilateral coalitions, scholars have largely been silent on the question of how public opinion in member states affects alliance cohesion. This article assesses public opinion data for states contributing to operations in Afghanistan. It finds that despite the unpopularity of the war, leaders have largely bucked public opinion and neither reduced nor withdrawn troops from NATO-led operations in Afghanistan. Theoretical expectations about international cooperation and evidence from case studies point to elite consensus as the reason why leaders are not running for the exits in Afghanistan when their publics would prefer that they do. As the article shows, operating through a formal institution such as NATO creates systemic incentives for sustained international cooperation. The result is that elite consensus inoculates leaders from electoral punishment and gives states' commitments to Afghanistan a "stickiness" that defies negative public opinion. A formal alliance such as NATO may therefore create more policy constraints than an ad hoc coalition but also increase the costs of defection and confer a degree of staying power that is unexpected given the adverse public opinion environment. [source]


Land Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in Nicaragua

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2005
Rikke J. Broegaard
This article uses empirical data from a case study in rural Nicaragua to demonstrate the need for a conceptualization of tenure security as seen from the perspective of the landholder. A large group of farmers in the case study area perceive their tenure situation as being insecure despite the fact that they possess a legal title to their land. The article argues that more attention must be paid to aspects such as inequalities of wealth and power, lack of enforcement and lack of impartiality on the part of the formal institutions when addressing tenure security in an institutionally unstable setting, such as that found in Nicaragua. The article contributes to the ongoing discussion by arguing that future research on how to increase rural land tenure security should explore the concept of tenure security as experienced by farmers. [source]


Entrepreneurship in Russia and China: The Impact of Formal Institutional Voids

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2010
Sheila M. Puffer
Transition economies are often characterized by underdeveloped formal institutions, often resulting in an unstable environment and creating a void usually filled by informal ones. Entrepreneurs in transition environments thus face more uncertainty and risk than those in more developed economies. This article examines the relationship of institutions and entrepreneurship in Russia and China in the context of institutional theory by analyzing private property as a formal institution, as well as trust and blat/guanxi as informal institutions. This article thus contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and institutional theory by focusing on these topics in transition economies, and by emphasizing how their relationship differs from that in developed economies. We conclude that full convergence toward entrepreneurs' reliance on formal institutions may not readily occur in countries like Russia and China due to the embeddedness of informal institutions. Instead, such countries and their entrepreneurs may develop unique balances between informal and formal institutions that better fit their circumstances. Implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurship in such environments are also offered. [source]


Marginalized for a lifetime: The everyday experiences of gulag survivors in post-Soviet Magadan

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2006
John Round
Abstract Over the past decade notions of social capital have become embedded in the social development lexicon, often presented as the ,missing link' within development theory. Much social capital-based research takes Robert Putnam's theorization of the subject as its starting point. Putnam's work argues that social capital can be measured by a region's levels of trust and civic engagement. While its use, and conceptualization, has undergone much academic debate, often formal institutions still employ this very narrow, and arguably Western-centric, reading of the subject. This paper argues that while at the micro-level social capital has little to do with the civic engagement and trust theories posited by Putnam, it still has relevance to the lives of marginalized individuals and is an important factor in their continued survival. To explore this, drawing on extensive qualitative research conducted in Magadan, Moscow and St Petersburg, I critically examine the construction of everyday survival strategies among Gulag survivors living in Russia's far northeast city of Magadan. Denied a return to their ,homeland' upon their release, this group experienced considerable marginalization in the post-Stalin period. This was exacerbated when the collapse of the Soviet Union saw pensions in the far northeast of Russia fall to below 50% of the state-set subsistence minimum. The paper demonstrates the importance of social capital to this group by showing how their survival is based on far more than interactions with formal and informal organizations. [source]


Economic Analysis of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Production in Tanzania

JOURNAL OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY, Issue 4 2006
Aloyce R Kaliba
In Tanzania, Nile tilapia culture is a promising aquaculture enterprise. Information on production costs could assist fish farmers in economic and financial planning. Economic profitability of small-scale Nile tilapia production in Tanzania is analyzed using a model that simulates individual fish growth and takes into account fish population dynamics in the pond. The results suggest that the current practiced mixed-sex tilapia culture without predation is not economically sustainable. Extension efforts should be geared toward developing a Nile tilapia production system that is based on a hand-sexed all-male tilapia. Meanwhile catfish can be introduced in ponds to control overcrowding in mixed-sex tilapia culture without predation. Studies to determine optimal pond sizes, availability of feed, and a quality fingerling supply chain are also fundamental for developing a sustainable Nile tilapia production system in Tanzania. Under improved Nile tilapia production systems, returns are high enough to justify investment through borrowed capital from formal institutions. [source]


,Dark Matter': Institutional Constraints and the Failure of Party-based Euroscepticism in Germany

POLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2002
Charles Lees
The article is built on four propositions. First, there is a latent potential within the German polity for the mobilisation of what remains a significant level of popular unease about aspects of the ongoing process of European integration. Second, at present this potential is unfulfilled and, as a result, Euroscepticism remains the ,dark matter' of German politics. Third, the absence of a clearly stated Eurosceptical agenda is not due to the inherent ,enlightenment' of the German political class about the European project, but rather is the result of systemic disincentives shaping the preferences of rational acting politicians. Finally, these systemic disincentives are to be found within the formal institutions of the German polity. The key ideas here are of ,hard' versus ,soft' Eurosceptical narratives, sustained versus heresthetic agendas, and ,polis constraining' versus ,polis shaping' strategies for their promotion. Political agents' choice of strategy depends on the nature of the institutional setting within which they are operating. The institutional configuration of the Federal Republic provides poor returns for party-based Euroscepticism. The mobilisation of popular unease about aspects of European integration remains an unattractive option for rational acting political agents. [source]