Smoki Musaraj
“When Is It Corruption?: Assessing Informal Practices in Post-Socialist Albania”
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Abstract
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My research explores "corrupt" informal practices in post-socialist Albania through an ethnography of participation in the late 1990s pyramid schemes and of contemporary exchanges of bribes, gifts and favors. To understand how multiple evaluations of informal practices are produced and reproduced, I will examine three domains where corruption is the subject of experience and debate: a) vernacular accounts of informal transactions; b) circulation of corruption scandals within the Albanian public culture including TV, print media, and the Pyramid Schemes Investigative Body; and c) corruption assessment practices of transnational institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and Transparency International. Transnational anti-corruption campaigns see informal exchanges as a residue of pre-modern, anti-capitalist practices that harness the development of free-market economies. Challenging these assumptions, this research will examine how informal practices in economies in transition combine two seemingly opposed forms of social trust: one in the value of money and another in tangible personal networks. By looking at the circulation of multiple assessments of informal practices among various social actors—local residents, media institutions, international organizations—the research will gauge their broader impact on practices, relations and alliances that lie outside the immediate field of "corruption." During my exploratory research in Tirana, Albania, I will establish the necessary contacts with major print and TV local media, international organizations such as Transparency International, and the Pyramid Schemes Investigative Body. I hope to conduct preliminary interviews and archival research with representatives of these institutions as well as local residents participating in the informal economy.
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