Property Rights in Post-Soviet Russia
Violence, Corruption, and the Demand for Law

This book looks at how top-down efforts to strengthen property rights are unlikely to succeed without demand for law from private firms.

Jordan Gans-Morse (Author)

9781316607848, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 May 2018

310 pages, 23 b/w illus. 21 tables
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

'When do firms rely on violence to enforce contracts? And why would they turn to the law, even when it does not work? Jordan Gans-Morse's book is a fascinating, clear and compelling answer to these timely puzzles. Bringing in a wealth of diverse evidence, he argues the firms' counterfactual thinking and beliefs about the barriers to using the law lie at the heart of their decision-making. The implications for the study of property rights, institutional formation, and state capacity are enormous.' Anna Grzymala-Busse, Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies Department of Political Science, Stanford University, California

The effectiveness of property rights - and the rule of law more broadly - is often depicted as depending primarily on rulers' 'supply' of legal institutions. Yet the crucial importance of private sector 'demand' for law is frequently overlooked. This book develops a novel framework that unpacks the demand for law in Russia, building on an original enterprise survey as well as extensive interviews with lawyers, firms, and private security agencies. By tracing the evolution of firms' reliance on violence, corruption, and law over the two decades following the Soviet Union's collapse, the book clarifies why firms in various contexts may turn to law for property rights protection, even if legal institutions remain ineffective or corrupt. The author's detailed demand-side analysis of property rights draws attention to the extensive role that law plays in the Russian business world, contrary to frequent depictions of Russia as lawless.

1. Violence, corruption, and demand for law
2. Institutional supply and demand
3. The evolution of firm strategies
4. The role of state legal capacity
5. Demand-side barriers to the use of legal strategies
6. The effectiveness of illegal strategies
7. Variation in strategies across firms
8. Firms, states, and the rule of law in comparative perspective.

Subject Areas: Property law [LNS], Commercial law [LNCB], Law & society [LAQ], Corporate governance [KJR]