Streamlining Informal Institutions for Local Strategic Planning and Development in a Post-Socialist Central-European Setting

Abstract

Informal institutions are increasingly emphasized by local development thinkers as preconditions and factors supporting local development. In post-so cialist European countries (PSECs), the need to strengthen informal institutions has been postulat ed as imperative by some researchers, critically ad dressing previous decades of rather infrastructural development. In this paper, we argue that, in con trast to this discourse, the operationalization of in formal institutions for their use in strategic planning and local development remains unclear. This results in inconsistencies and conflicting natures between the planning process itself and its goals. Based on a review of the literature on the role of informal insti tutions in local strategic planning and development, we identify the two main shortcomings in the use of the concept. First, we point out the lack of their oper ationalization, which is underpinned by a poor under standing of the different levels of abstraction inher ent to informal institutions. Second, we assert that neglecting such different levels of abstraction often leads to a lack of consensus on appropriate ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of strategic planning out comes. To reduce the formalism while referring to informal institutions in existing local strategies, we propose a new conceptual approach that allows for their operationalization. The applicability of the pro posed concept is discussed specifically in the realm of post-socialist European planning.