Governed by Bandits : The Evolution of Social Order through Violent Entrepreneurship in Post-Soviet Russia

Contrary to standard interpretations of Russia’s decade of post-socialist transition as one of chaos and disorder, this study demonstrates that organized crime played a significant role in the re-creation of social order after the Soviet collapse. Drawing upon existing fieldwork and interview data on the Russian mafia, the study bridges neoinstitutional and rational choice theories with literature on Foucauldian political culture and economic sociology in order to frame “violent entrepreneurs” as significant actors in a socially embedded market for protection. New market relations transformed political and cultural relations as functions of government shifted from the state to localized spheres of criminal influence. This study challenges state-driven policies to prosecute organized crime as a means of introducing rule of law. More broadly, it confronts the traditional debate in transition studies between “institutional optimists” and “cultural pessimists” by arguing that social change is evolutionary and fluid rather than culturally predetermined or authoritatively imposed.