blat
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /blæt/
rhymes: -æt
Etymology: Borrowed from Russian блат (blat), from Polish blat (“cover, umbrella”) or Yiddish בלאַט (blat, “leaf, list”). Doublet of blade.
Senses: examples: text: To open a new business in Russia you need blat.
text: Alena Ledeneva's book is the first to analyse blat in all its historical, socio-economic and cultural aspects, and to explore its implications for post-Soviet society. In a socialist distribution system which resulted in constant shortages, blat developed into an 'economy of favours' which shadowed an overcontrolling centre and represented the reaction of ordinary people to the social constraints they faced.
ref: 1998, Alena V. Ledeneva, Russia's Economy of Favours. Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange, University of London, →ISBN, [Marketing description of that book hardly written by the author]:
text: “We call her that but really it’s more post-Soviet. She's the blat girl.”
“The what?”
“Blat. What the old boys in your country called juice, I think. She's connected, Marina is.
ref: 2003, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (Bigend cycle; book 1), New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 180:
text: The bribe caused the inflation of the social capital defined as blat. Monetarization of social relations led to the inflation of the social investments that the ordinary citizen has put in their blat networks. Only blat networks of the powerful survived […]
ref: 2005, Adam Czarnota, Martin Krygier, Wojciech Sadurski, Rethinking the Rule of Law After Communism, page 334:
text: I argue that just as blat was an essential type of know-how of Soviet socialism, these postsocialist informal practices represent the “know-how” of post-Soviet Russia.
ref: 2006, Alena V. Ledeneva, How Russia Really Works. The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business (Culture and Society after Socialism), Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 2:
text: The distinction between the use of blat for personal enrichment and for smoothing the work of the enterprise was emphasized in the interview testimony. […] The supply agent, for example, often has large quantities of money at his disposal for arranging his blat, much of which he might use for himself but which he devotes instead to making deals of advantage to the enterprise.
ref: 2017, Joseph S. Berliner, "Blat", in David Twichell, The shallow stratigraphy and sand resources offshore of the Mississippi bar, age 326
text: Semukhina and Reynolds mention underlying reasons for the widespread corruption: pre-Soviet and Soviet practices (especially the system of blat⁽¹⁹¹⁾, which continued in the wake of the breakdown of the Soviet Union), institutional factors within the police (e.g. highly militarised structure, lack of accountability), a weak civil society, economic causes (maximising income and minimising risks) and a culture of ‘disrespect for the law’⁽¹⁹²⁾.
ref: 2017, EASO Country of Origin Information Report. Russian Federation. State Actors of Protection, →DOI, →ISBN, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2021, page 32:
synonyms: guanxi
glosses: The Soviet system of connections and social relationships; one's social or business network (in Russian or Soviet society).