Informal Ties Research Articles

Housing and High-Rise Building: a Longstanding Love-Hate Story Is there an Upper Limit to Living on High Ground?

Climate change and the global pandemic seem to be pushing urbanization in opposite directions: the opposition between densification and distancing could open up, in the coming years, an increasingly frequent collision between the conflicting demands of climate and public health issues. However, the push for new concentration, after several decades in which lowand medium-density settlement patterns were favored, is now seen not only as a necessity on the urban level, but also as a fertile architectural design opportunity. In the housing towers of modernity, the living experience has often clashed with the monofunctionality of buildings and the problem of the loss of any relationship with the street and the ground. Many architects since the 1960s have attempted to bring some common spaces, intermediate between public and private into elevation, but this has often been insufficient to transfer urban vitality within a residential building and ensure the connection of housing to the ground and street-life. Today there is an attempt to recover the "streets on the air" through the Hong Kong lesson of an integrated and connected city, or there is a return to experimenting on the urban block and Medium-rise blocks by attempting to simultaneously generate high-density and human scale, better connecting people with the urban ground and with each other. Finally, we try to prefigure a new kind of multilevel city, in which a common dimension of many functions related to living is shared in spaces distributed along the height of high-rise buildings, also taking inspiration from the spontaneous power of informal associations that teach us to foster relationships among people, variety and flexibility of spaces, leading the experience of living back to an idea of domesticity thus overcoming the modern idea of the machine city

How informal ties matter: encroachment on road reservations along the Kumasi–Accra highway in Ghana

A failure of urban planning in many developing countries is evidenced by encroachment on road reservations. Urban planning literature suggests that such encroachment is largely explained by poverty and urban growth. But how do encroachers find space in the road reservations? This paper examines encroachment along the Anloga Junction to Ejisu section of the Kumasi–Accra highway in Ghana. It argues that formal rules are not effective in governing the road reservations: informal rules rooted in social networks of reciprocity matter more. The research involved interviews with encroachers, senior officials from government institutions and traditional authorities. It emerged that encroachers invoked mainly ethnic and political party ties with public officials to secure space in the road reservations. This occurred in an environment of non-enforcement of relevant laws, weak formal collaboration among public institutions, and inadequate political commitment. There is a need for effective application of the principles and methods of multi-stakeholder governance, linking improved legal regulation with informal processes, to achieve better outcomes.

The best among the connected (men): promotion in the Russian state apparatus

ABSTRACT Bureaucratic promotion criteria create powerful incentives that shape the behavior of bureaucrats, governance, and regime legitimacy. Yet informal rules governing the functioning of the state apparatus are notoriously hard to uncover in authoritarian settings. Using a unique survey of Russian regional and municipal bureaucrats with an embedded conjoint experiment, I explore the criteria used for promotion decisions. I discover that personal connections to the future supervisor are a major favorable factor for bureaucratic promotions in Russia. For candidates with such ties, education and experience add extra advantage. Importantly, gender plays a crucial role; gender bias cannot be compensated by better education, experience, or a specific family strategy – and it is men with informal ties who drive the effect of personal connection on promotions. The study highlights the complex interaction between formal and informal criteria within Russian bureaucracy and contributes to our understanding of post-Soviet neopatrimonial politics.

Official and informal professional associations of artists in the contemporary art space of Russia and China

The article presents an analysis of the activities of formal and informal art associations in the space of contemporary art in Russia and China. The two countries actively cooperate in the field of art, including at the institutional level, which actualizes the appeal to the work of existing creative unions. The object of attention in the framework of the study is the modern art associations of the two countries, and the subject is the relationship between the structure and activities of official and informal art associations of China and Russia. The aim is to analyze the features of the activity of art associations in the conditions of the modern art space of their countries. The analysis of the state and directions of development of both official structures and informal art groups is carried out. The former in both Russia and China, as a rule, are the continuers of the traditions of the former structures, but the original function of the guide of the political course of the leadership of the countries in them remained at different levels, mostly decreasing. The latter are communities of artists who unite by creative interests or around a common exhibition space for them, in particular galleries. Moreover, both forms successfully exist in both states, reflecting the trends of artistic life and at the same time influencing it.

Effect of Credit Financing on Financial Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (Smes) in Thika Town, Kiambu County

Purpose: To determine effect that credit financing has on the financial performance of SMEs in Thika Town, Kiambu County.
 Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive survey design and the targeted population was 468 registered SMEs in Thika town. A structured questionnaire was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data collected was analyzed for both inferential and descriptive statistics and the qualitative data from the open-ended questions were analyzed using content analysis.
 Results: The study found that trade credit has a significant effect on financial performance of SMEs in Thika town (B=0.804; p=0.026) and that bank credit has a significant effect on financial performance of SMEs in Thika town (B=0.956; p=0.000). The study also revealed that micro-finance credit has a significant effect on financial performance of SMEs in Thika town (B=0.783; p=0.000) and that informal associations credit has a significant effect on financial performance of SMEs in Thika town (B=0.892; p=0.002).
 Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The study concluded that bank credit had the greatest effect followed by informal associations credit, then trade credit while micro-finance credit had the least effect on financial performance of SMEs in Thika town. The study recommends that the Kenyan government should devise strategies of regulating and reducing interest rates in order to protect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from unfair shylocks who lend money at unsustainable high interest rates coupled with undisclosed fees.

Who Benefits From Helping? Moderators of the Association Between Informal Helping and Mortality.

While informal helping has been linked to a reduced risk of mortality, it remains unclear if this association persists across different levels of key social structural moderators. To examine whether the longitudinal association between informal helping and all-cause mortality differs by specific social structural moderators (including age, gender, race/ethnicity, wealth, income, and education) in a large, prospective, national, and diverse sample of older U.S. adults. We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, a national sample of U.S. adults aged >50 (N = 9,662). Using multivariable Poisson regression, we assessed effect modification by six social structural moderators (age, gender, race/ethnicity, wealth, income, and education) for the informal helping (2006/2008) to mortality (2010-2016/2012-2018) association on the additive and multiplicative scales. Participants who reported ≥100 hr/year of informal helping (vs. 0 hr/year), had a lower mortality risk. Those who engaged in 1-49 hr/year most consistently displayed lower mortality risk across moderators, while those who engaged in 50-99 and ≥100 hr/year only showed decreased mortality risk across some moderators. When formally testing effect modification, there was evidence that the informal helping-mortality associations were stronger among women and the wealthiest. Informal helping is associated with decreased mortality. Yet, there appear to be key differences in who benefits from higher amounts of informal helping across social structural moderators. Further research is needed to evaluate how the associations between informal helping and health and well-being are patterned across key social structural moderators.

Autonomy in R&D Projects and Breadth of Knowledge of Informal Ties

Autonomy in R&D Projects and Breadth of Knowledge of Informal Ties

CONCEPTUAL POSITIONS OF THE VALUE-CULTURAL APPROACH TO THE EXPLANATION OF THE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF PERSONS

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of political activity of persons. The purpose of the article is to study the positions of the value-cultural approach to explaining the factors of actualization and activation of the political activity of persons. The methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, generalization and abstraction, historical, structural functionalism are used. Factors of modernization, material well-being, high education level, presence of social connections, political culture, national identities, membership in voluntary associations, and civil society are singled out. Established that the basis of political culture at the level of an individual is a psychological attitude to the role of one’s own “I” in the political sphere – a political attitude. It is emphasized that high political competence forces people to value democracy as a political system that provides an opportunity to realize their political attitudes; for them, democracy and a democratic political system is a value they willing to defend. Attention is drawn to the fact that a high level of education ensures the cultivation of active political attitudes, and access to resources (high income, participation in informal associations, the presence of a network of useful acquaintances) determines the success of political activity. The author comes to the conclusion that political activity is the implementing force of expressing of the value orientations of the person; its success, to the greatest extent, depends on social, intellectual, and financial capitals. The article has theoretical significance for research and interpretation of the phenomenon of political activity of persons. The achievements of the article can be applied to empirical research design. Further research may be aimed at considering other approaches.

Including Men in a Female Financial Model: An Analysis of Informal Grassroots Financial Associations

There is an increasing push among development actors to engage men in gender-focused development efforts. This is also observed in initiatives organizing economically poor individuals into groups where members save and borrow among each other. This study investigates the influence of male membership on the savings group’s profit-generating capacity. Further, the study aims to understand if this relationship is moderated by the level of gender equality in the country where the group is located. Drawing on random effects regression analysis on a sample of data on 81,853 savings groups from 30 African countries covering the period 2010 to 2017, the results show that the group’s profit-generating capacity reduces as the percentage of male members increases. Further, gender inequality in the countries where these groups are located worsens the observed negative relation. The findings highlight the need to thoroughly evaluate policy initiatives aimed at such savings groups to avoid harming core group functions.

Informal Worker Access to Formal Social Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Kenya and Tanzania

Based on a combination of detailed survey data and in-depth interviews with informal workers in the construction, micro-trade, and transport sectors in urban areas of Kenya and Tanzania, this article explores the extent to which informal worker associations facilitate member access to formal social insurance schemes. The article provides unique insight into what characterises informal workers, and the circumstances under which associations may ensure social protection for their members. The analysis shows that members of informal worker associations are significantly more likely to participate in formal insurance schemes compared with non-members, albeit with some variation across location, sector, and worker types. These divergences relate partly to sector-specific and institutional constellations, as well as the ways in which informal worker associations function. Moreover, the article shows that informal worker associations often play a dual role by providing both direct short-term social cushioning and enabling enrolment in formal social insurance schemes. Their part in ensuring the achievement of universal social protection must therefore not be underestimated.

Media management of corporate university media in the USA as a public relations tool of a university (using the example of Ivy League University media)

The subject of the study is the university press of US universities that are part of the so-called "Ivy League" - an informal association of the oldest higher education institutions in the country. The object of the research is the media management of corporate media of universities as a tool of public relations among students, graduates and potential applicants. The authors consider in detail such aspects of the topic as ways of forming an individual profile of a particular media outlet, as well as its contribution to the image of a particular university. Particular attention is paid to the formation of the content of university media and their interaction with the traditional media system, as well as options for their development in a broader media profile. The main conclusions of the study are the data obtained during the comparison of Ivy League university press samples on the patterns of formation of the image of a typical student and a graduate of a university. A special contribution of the authors to the research of the topic is the development of specific recommendations on the media management of corporate publications on the example of the university press, which can be applied in domestic practice. The novelty of the research lies in the generalization of the media practices of the university press of the USA and the formulation of recommendations for creating the image of a student, graduate and teacher on the pages of the university press. Also of particular interest is the practice of creating a modern convergent media based on the traditional format of the press that has existed since the XIX century.

Impact of Gothan and Godhan Nyay Scheme on the Income of SHGs and Livestock Rearers of Chhattisgarh, India

Self-Help groups (SHGs) are informal associations of people who choose to come together to find ways to improve their living conditions and livelihoods, all voluntarily coming together to save small sums of money, on a regular basis. Gothan and Godhan Nyay Yojna of Chhattisgarh are the schemes based on providing profits to the women SHGs and livestock rearers through vermicompost business and selling cow dung respectively. The study aims to examine the performance of Gothan and Godhan Nyay Yojna through the objective of identify the socio-economic status of Self Help Group members and Livestock rearers and analyze the impact of Gothan and Godhan Nyay Yojna on the income of SHGs and livestock rearers. The present study was carried out in Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa and Raigarh districts of Chhattisgarh with a sample size of 120 members from 12 SHGs and 240 livestock rearers registered under selected areas Gothan. Impact of income of the scheme on Model Gothan SHGs was higher (26 percent). The overall impact of scheme on income of selected self help groups were 21.5 per cent. Impact of scheme on the Income of livestock rearers under Model Gothan’s was highest (38 percent). The average impact of scheme on the selected livestock rearers was 30.5 per cent.

Between Diplomacy and Intrigue: Informal Aspects of Franco-Russian Relations in 1870s-1880s

The article deals with the informal aspects of the preparation of the Franco-Russian rapprochement in the 1870s–1880s, which later resulted in the military alliance concluded in 1894 between France and Russia. The authors consider the process of formation and strengthening of many informal networks that contributed to the emergence of a favorable basis for concluding an alliance between countries. Particular attention in the article is paid to the specifics of the activities of the salons of E.E. Trubetskoy and J. Adam, which became a platform for establishing personal contacts between persons aimed at the alliance of France and Russia. The authors dwell on a detailed analysis of the formed ties between French and Russian intellectuals, the point of contact of which was the formation of “cultural pan-Slavism”. In this regard, the activity of the editor of “Moskovskie Vedomosti” M.N. Katkov is highlighted and those vast networks and political influence that he managed to establish is identified. The authors come to the conclusion that the Franco-Russian rapprochement in the 1870s-1880s actively developed on the wave of the idea of revanchism in France and the popularity of pan-Slavism, as well as through the contacts and initiatives of individuals connected by a network of informal ties with the government circles of both states.

Институт «товарищеских начал» и субсидиарные конфигурации управления первичным производственным звеном в российской экономике

This work is devoted to the concept of partnership in the interpretation of A. A. Bogdanov. We are talking about comradely principles in the socio-economic system, that is, about comradely relations, a comradely organization, a comradely collective, a comradely society. The author makes an attempt to highlight the distinctive features and signs of “partnership”, so that in the future, with the help of these signs, it would be possible to select and consider specific forms of organizational relations on a comradely basis, as well as to conduct a comparative analysis of these forms of comradely organization of the economy Using examples of specific business units. The object of the study was the organization and structure of primary production processes, independent management. We are talking only about partnerships engaged in simple forms of production labor, the primary production process, about those subsidiary configurations for which the sign of the notorious “friendliness” is supposedly a key social criterion. The following forms of comradely economic relations are consistently considered in the work: Old Believer farms, monastic (temple) farms, Cossack communities, peasant farms, volunteer movement, as well as formal and informal associations of citizens engaged in creative practice in the field of folk art crafts and local associations “on interests”, and family business associations that legally exploit the statute of the subject of relations of taxation of professional activity (self-employment). The authors draw conclusions about the reason for the stability of the functioning of economic partnerships, which lies in the fact that economic practice is influenced by social institutions: the original way of life, religious beliefs, professional hobbies, high citizenship, blood ties, labor collectives that ensure friendly relations. “Friendly principles” are more typical of forms of organization, which are subsidiary configurations of management of the primary link of production, in contrast to the joint-stock form of organization of social production – a combination of labor law and entrepreneurial relations with the motivation of survival and enrichment.

Nudity as Strategy: Examining Femen Sextremism Ideology to Weaponize Women’s Body

In the age of the new wave feminism movement, Femen stood out to be one of the heavily discussed topics of women's movements due to its controversial protest strategy. They are one of few feminist movements that utilize, or in their terms, weaponize, the naked body to deliver a political message. It generates various backlash, upon which they are accused of perpetuating western biased standards of beauty and marginalizing non-white women's experience. Despite the controversy, they gained international recognition from the birth of the movement in 2009 until recently. We explore the matters by examining the enabling factors supporting the global movement to endure the controversy over the last decade. We conclude that two factors play a crucial role in the movement's sustainability. First, how they encapsulate and translate the sextremism ideology into firm action. Second, Femen has developed a firm, organized, yet fluid social movement by establishing strong informal ties through soldier-like training.

Informal ties to political elites and path dependency in the Croatian agro sector: a study of the corruption scandals of Agrokombinat and Agrokor

ABSTRACT This research is a case study that explores and compares two Croatian corruption scandals, the Agrokombinat scandal from the 1970s, and the Agrokor scandal from the 2010s. These two companies are linked to one another: Agrokombinat served as a model for Agrokor, and the main protagonists of the two scandals, the two top managers of the companies, were father and son. The research aims to answer the following: what differences and similarities can be observed in the alleged abuses committed by the two managers and in their relations to the political elites? Can we identify patterns of path dependence on the example of two related companies? We aim to answer these questions by analyzing both archival sources of internal Communist Party documents, from the Croatian State Archive, and the public corruption narrativizations of the scandals from the media. More generally, we also aim to show the importance of learning the lessons from (business) history when operating in societies afflicted by political instability and informal practices.

Conceptual issues and stages of establishment of military chaplainty in independent Ukraine

The formation of the chaplaincy movement in the context of the formation of independent Ukraine (after 1991) required the solution of a number of issues, primarily of a conceptual nature. The initiators of the restoration of chaplaincy faced the underestimation of the chaplaincy factor, the risks of transferring interfaith disputes to the military environment. In fact, it was a question of finding their own model of chaplaincy service, which would provide an optimal model for organizing the work of chaplains. The authors propose to divide the development of the chaplaincy movement in independent Ukraine into three stages, which differ not only chronologically but also in their characteristics. The first stage (1991-2005) was characterized by a rethinking of the role and place of religion in the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The idea of a chaplaincy service was revived primarily on the basis of the volunteer movement. Volunteers also encouraged churches to form appropriate structures that would be responsible for chaplaincy work. At this stage, the driving force behind the formation of the chaplaincy movement was the unstable informal ties between church and security forces in Ukraine. With the advent of the first legal acts that regulated the search for optimal models for creating the chaplaincy institute, the second stage of development of the chaplaincy movement in Ukraine began. It lasted from 2006 to 2013. During this time, regulations were developed and implemented that institutionalized the relationship between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the country's largest churches and religious organizations. The third stage began with the beginning of the Russian Federation's attack on Ukraine in 2014 and continues to this day. The annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine created the need to sharply increase the number of chaplains and to legalize them in military institutions. Already in 2015-2016, the formation of the state regulatory framework of the chaplaincy institute began and staff positions of chaplains in military units were introduced. On the other hand, there has also been a qualitative growth in the theoretical and practical training of chaplains and their material support. These processes show that the establishment of the institute of military chaplaincy in Ukraine has actually taken place. In each period, the authors highlight the problematic issues that government agencies and religious organizations addressed in organizing the chaplaincy movement. Particular attention was paid to the attempts of activists to form their own model of chaplaincy ministry and the problematic issues of improving the quality of chaplains' training. In particular, it was pointed out that the best way for Ukraine is to organize separate chaplaincy faculties in the country's higher educational institutions to train specialists at the level of world standards.

Conceptual foundations of motivation of labor and creative activity of the rural population

The analysis of the main macroeconomic indicators and proportions shows a decrease in the efficiency of human capital in the agricultural sector within the system of motivation of labor and creative activity of the rural population. It was found that the relatively low share of the average number of workers in agricultural organizations in the total number of those employed in rural areas indicates the need to expand the boundaries of the motivational profile of human capital increment. Agrarian-territorial communities – formal and informal associations of people, directly or indirectly influencing its formation and development, are considered as objects of incentives.

Does SME’s financing decisions follow pecking order pattern? The role of financial literacy, risk preference, and home bias in SME financing decisions

This paper aims to explore the role of financial literacy, risk preference, and home bias in Minangkabau ethnic SME financing decisions, and whether their financing pattern follow the pecking order theory. The theoretical framework model was developed to determine the impact of financial literacy, risk preference, and home bias on the financing decisions of SMEs. The study applied the SEM-PLS method in testing the model. Data collection was carried out through online and offline survey techniques with a sample of 623 SMEs. The results reveal that home bias and risk preference have a negative direct effect on financing decision. Home bias also has a direct positive influence on risk preference. Financial literacy can minimize home bias from negative to positive toward financing decision. However, financial literacy does not have a direct effect on the financing decisions and does not have a significant direct influence on risk preference. Most SMEs have a low level of financial literacy, a high tendency for home bias and a high-risk preference. Financial literacy has strong positive moderation effect on the influence of home bias toward financing decision. Home bias make SME financing decision does not follow pecking order pattern. As SMEs financial literacy level is still very low, thus it is important for financial institutions to educate SMEs by providing several trainings about financial matters. The findings suggest to improve the financial literacy of SMEs informal association groups in order to help them reducing their home bias tendency. This study seeks to explore the pecking order pattern in financing decisions of SMEs.

Institutional thickness of a shrinkage region with discontinuous development in a border periphery in Czechia

The article examines the effects of the social networks of a range of actors on the local development of municipalities located in Czech peripheral border regions. Its main goals are to shed light on and understand the role of social interactions in the development activities of individual municipalities in border-region peripheries and reveal the spatial differentiation of these municipalities. The borderland Cheb district (western Bohemia) is affected by the shrinkage process, and the concept of institutional thickness is used as the explanatory framework. One of the key conclusions is that the more disadvantages there are, the more important institutional thickness is as a development factor. The research data are drawn from 24 semi-structured interviews with the mayors of municipalities that within the system of state administration are municipalities without extended powers. The research also confirmed the diversity of individuals holding the position of mayor and the differences in the specific role mayors play in local development, as well as how important it is for municipalities to be active in microregional associations. It also showed that the internal differentiation of development opportunities and the formation of formal and informal ties are also determined by the quality of horizontal and vertical cooperation.