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Economies of Affection in Comparative-Historical Perspective: The Legacies of the Japanese Mura and the Russian Mir
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The Economy of Affection in Comparative-Historical Perspective:
The Legacies of the Japanese Mura and the Russian Mir
RUDRA SIL
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
(## email not listed ##)
Prepared for Delivery at the Annual Meeting of the Annual Political Science Association,
Philadelphia, August 28-31, 2003
Abstract
This paper proceeds from the conviction that many of the interesting problems encountered in the developing world require not the construction of uniform models based on universalistic assumptions but the systematic examination of variation in the evolution, organization, and interconnectedness of the formal and informal structures within specific institutions. For anyone seeking to critically examine the interaction between local histories and the supposedly homogenizing forces identified with modernization or globalization, a central problem relates to how elements of preeexisting social institutions are reconstructed as informal structures in newer institutional settings and how these structures, in turn, affect the coherence, efficacy and sustainability of the new institutions. Therein lies the value of analytic constructs such as Goran Hyden’s typology of informally institutionalized economies of affection, which distinguishes between clientelism, pooling, charisma, and self-defense. Although emerging in the context of African political economy, the logic behind this typology can be extended to understand more generally how preexisting economies of affection differ from one another, and how these differences partially explain the design and performance of new institutions. This paper compares Japanese and Russian peasant communities, the mura and the mir, to identify portable norms and principles that can govern the distribution of tasks, rewards, and authority in different institutions of production. While both the mura and the mir were physically dispersed (the mura as a result of land reform under the Allied Occupation, the mir as a result of Stalinist collectivization), the norms and practices once embedded in these institutions would bear a marked resemblance to the informal expectations and understandings of those who entered new systems of work and authority characterized by new tasks, technologies, and administrative structures. This suggests that the distinctive legacies of preexisting economies of affection deserve attention as a crucial component of any inquiry into how formally similar institutional practices can function quite differently and elicit quite different responses in diverse social environments. More generally, the study points to the value of a comparative-historical approach that explicitly aims to aggregate and utilize the extensive scholarship on different regions of the world as a corrective to both overly abstract universal models and area-specific empirical analyses.
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The Economy of Affection in Comparative-Historical Perspective:
The Legacies of the Japanese Mura and the Russian Mir
RUDRA SIL
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
(## email not listed ##)
Prepared for Delivery at the Annual Meeting of the Annual Political Science Association,
Philadelphia, August 28-31, 2003
Abstract
This paper proceeds from the conviction that many of the interesting problems encountered in the
developing world require not the construction of uniform models based on universalistic assumptions but
the systematic examination of variation in the evolution, organization, and interconnectedness of the
formal and informal structures within specific institutions. For anyone seeking to critically examine the
interaction between local histories and the supposedly homogenizing forces identified with modernization
or globalization, a central problem relates to how elements of preeexisting social institutions are
reconstructed as informal structures in newer institutional settings and how these structures, in turn, affect
the coherence, efficacy and sustainability of the new institutions. Therein lies the value of analytic
constructs such as Goran Hyden’s typology of informally institutionalized economies of affection, which
distinguishes between clientelism, pooling, charisma, and self-defense. Although emerging in the context
of African political economy, the logic behind this typology can be extended to understand more
generally how preexisting economies of affection differ from one another, and how these differences
partially explain the design and performance of new institutions. This paper compares Japanese and
Russian peasant communities, the mura and the mir, to identify portable norms and principles that can
govern the distribution of tasks, rewards, and authority in different institutions of production. While both
the mura and the mir were physically dispersed (the mura as a result of land reform under the Allied
Occupation, the mir as a result of Stalinist collectivization), the norms and practices once embedded in
these institutions would bear a marked resemblance to the informal expectations and understandings of
those who entered new systems of work and authority characterized by new tasks, technologies, and
administrative structures. This suggests that the distinctive legacies of preexisting economies of affection
deserve attention as a crucial component of any inquiry into how formally similar institutional practices
can function quite differently and elicit quite different responses in diverse social environments. More
generally, the study points to the value of a comparative-historical approach that explicitly aims to
aggregate and utilize the extensive scholarship on different regions of the world as a corrective to both
overly abstract universal models and area-specific empirical analyses.
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