Download full text
(138.9Kb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-455239
Exports for your reference manager
An evaluation of the persistence of blat in post-soviet societies: a case study of Ukraine's health services sector
[journal article]
Abstract The use of personal connections to gain preferential access to goods and services and to circumvent formal procedures exists in all countries to varying degrees. In this paper, the aim is to critically evaluate the continuing widespread positive depiction of this practice as a form of friendly help.... view more
The use of personal connections to gain preferential access to goods and services and to circumvent formal procedures exists in all countries to varying degrees. In this paper, the aim is to critically evaluate the continuing widespread positive depiction of this practice as a form of friendly help. Studying the health services sector in the city of Mykolayiv in Ukraine, this practice known as blat, which was widely used in Soviet societies to gain access to goods and services, is shown to persist in post-Soviet market societies, albeit transformed. Those possessing connections and access to health services now increasingly view such access-assets as commodities to sell rather than provide them as non-monetised friendly favours. The outcome is a call for blat to be re-theorised more negatively as an exemplar of the darker side of social capital, and for a policy shift from doing nothing to seeking its eradication.... view less
Keywords
social capital; public health services; Ukraine; corruption
Classification
Health Policy
Document language
English
Publication Year
2015
Page/Pages
p. 46-63
Journal
Studies of Transition States and Societies, 7 (2015) 2
ISSN
1736-8758
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution