Informal Networks in the South Caucasus's Societies

Abstract

Reliance on informal kinship networks and circles of friends and acquaintances in every-day life is a common characteristic of post-communist societies in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Two decades after the end of Soviet rule in the Caucasus, the great majority of the South Caucasus’s residents continue to depend on informal networks as key sources of social capital, social security, civic association and primary means of support and assistance in different aspects of day-to-day life. Having examined the origins, composition and main operational principles of informal networks, this article argues that informal networks in the South Caucasus are not only the main sources of social support, but also are tightly entangled in the web of corruption and patron-client relations which are wide-spread throughout the region.