Informality as illegality in Georgia’s anti-mafia campaign

Abstract

The paper examines the anti-mafia laws in Georgia and links the decline of informality under Saakashvili with the use of punitive measures in a concerted effort to establish legal centrism over and above other extra-legal normative orders. The paper discusses the specific informal practice of the obshchak, or mutual aid fund, and how this evolved to become linked to organized crime, making it an object of criminalization. Finally, the paper argues that punitiveness, framed in terms of fighting the mafia, was a key element in tackling informality. However, far from banishing informality, pressure in the criminal justice system led to systemic punitive informal practices within the state.

Gulags, Crime, and Elite Violence: Origins and Consequences of the Russian Mafia

“…PCNA has been described by the media as "perhaps the world's most exhaustive information resource about the vory-v-zakone available to the public" (Schreck, 2009) and is regularly cited in news stories on Russian organized crime (Schwirtz, 2008). PCNA has also been cited as an important primary source of information about the vory fraternity in the academic literature (Varese, 2018;Galeotti, 2018;Belokurova, 2014;Slade, 2017Slade, , 2013. Further credibility of this data source is suggested by the fact that the vory themselves are known to closely follow the website for any updates about the organization.…”

Towards an “uncivil” society? Informality and civil society in Georgia

“…Informal relations tend to guide these groups' operational methods and recruitment patterns. 11 It is crucial to distinguish the above detailed representatives of "uncivil" society from both radical (right-or left-wing) political parties and terrorist or criminal groups (Slade 2017), which also often become incorporated into the definition of "uncivil" society (Kopecký and Mudde 2003). The key definitive characteristic of "uncivil" groups -described in this article under the term "uncivil" society -is not only their radical stance vis-à-vis the state or liberal values, but their efforts to function as civil society.…”