PORTFOLIO

The project focuses on the analysis of networks, elites and informal structures in Georgia and Armenia. One of the aims will be to find out through a selected number of case studies what is the importance, the functions and the place of political networks of power and informal practices in the respective political systems. In a later comparative phase the project will compare Georgia and Armenia with regard to specific configurations of networks of power and informal institutions. More generally the project will study these informal networks of power and informal institutions with regard to their interplay with formal institutions. In that sense the project will also try to find out to what extent the observed informal networks of power are an obstacle for the building up of a modern state and democracy based on the rule of law. It could also be that highly dynamic and instable political contexts as they can be observed in many post-Soviet countries are making it very difficult to build up stable political institutions with clear rules accepted by the elites. Informal networks are an answer to such specific challenges. The case studies to be analysed in this project are precisely about the relationship between the informal and formal world of rules: on the forms of moving from the informal to the formal and vice versa (informalisation of formality vs. formalisation of informality).

The third and final phase will start on 1 March 2015 and will be concluded in April 2016.

This is a political science oriented project focussing on crucial aspects of the two countries which are covered by the ASCN programme. By analysing specific political network structures and informal practices in Armenia and Georgia the project aims at contributing to the overall goal of ASCN, namely a better understanding of the transformation process in these two countries.

Moreover this project will involve mainly young researchers, preferably PhD students; therefore these young researchers will not only have the opportunity to gain research experience, but also to further develop their scientific career.

The last phase of the project will be dedicated to the last fieldwork trips in Georgia as well as to the analysis of the data and the writing up of the papers in each country. The project should end with a final and consolidated report on all four case studies which will constitute the basis for a book project with a comparative perspective on informality networks of power in Georgia and Armenia. We also plan to produce a few policy briefs. In March 2015 there is a workshop planned in Switzerland gathering the research teams from both countries; this workshop will give the opportunity to the teams to present in details the stage of their work, to have an exchange on preliminary results and to clarify precisely the format of the publication and the content of the papers.

Phase 3 of the study (March 2015 - April 2016) was devoted to categorization and systematization of the data, adaptation of theoretical approaches to the collected material as well as the preparation of the drafts of the final publication.