Captured Societies in Southeast Europe: Networks of Trust and Control examines the growing divergence between how institutions function on paper and how problems are resolved in everyday life across the region. Based on the results of the three-year Horizon 2020 research project Closing the Gap Between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans (No. 693537), which involved more than forty researchers from nine Southeast European countries, the book offers an in-depth, multidisciplinary insight into the informal networks that emerge when formal state structures fall short.

By exploring the fine line between creative problem-solving and the risks of clientelism, corruption, and political influence, the authors provide new insights into state legitimacy, the limits of Europeanisation, and the ways informal systems can evolve from mutual support to mechanisms of control.

The book will be discussed by its editors, Erik Gordy and Predrag Cvetičanin, together with discussants Miloš Janković (IFDT) and Irena Fiket (IFDT).

You can download your copy of the book here