This volume deals with different aspects of informal structures and practices in Eastern Europe. Its objectives are twofold. It aims at discovering whether or to what extent informal structures and practices in Eastern Europe have meanings, functions, forms and effects different from those that can be observed in the politics and societies of Western Europe. The authors of this volume – most of them are from the region – have been invited to discuss the scientific relevance of the distinction informal / formal in their respective field of research or discipline. This points to the second objective of this volume which is to encourage a more fruitful interaction between disciplines that often disregard each other and which, despite inevitable and essential epistemological differences, have significant shared interests such as the comparative analysis of political phenomena in terms of elementary forms of social organization. The relation between informality and formality in a more methodologically pluralist and ultimately holistic way can be analysed via regards croisés between the disciplines anthropology, political science and sociology. This allows the extension of this comparative and multidisciplinary approach to other themes and phenomena of mutual interests.

Informality in Eastern Europe - Structures, Political Cultures and Social Practices

Many recently democratized countries in Central and Eastern Europe, having escaped from communist rule and planned economies, face pressing problems related to the notions of tax evasion, trust and state capacities. Tax morale in changing political and economic contexts is of crucial importance. This raises a series of questions : What are the conditions under which people agree to pay taxes ? Why do people avoid taxes ? To what extent do the reasons for tax evasion vary from one region to another ? The authors of this volume address these questions and try to assess the progress which has been made in Central and Eastern Europe with regard to improving tax morale through tax reforms and strengthening of extractive state capacities. A main insight is the complex causal relationship between the quality of fiscal institutions and tax morale. In addition, huge differences between countries of the former Soviet Union and central European countries, which are now members of the EU, can be observed not only at the level of democratic governance, of state capacities and the structures of trust, but also with regard to tax morale.

Tax Evasion, Trust, and State Capacities

As the "Orange Revolution" has shown, modern-day Ukraine has undeniably come a long way since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This volume contains papers delivered at conferences about Ukraine held at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 2001 and 2002. Supplementary articles have been solicited from recognized experts in the field to provide a comprehensive picture of a country in transition and to explain some of the challenges of Ukraine's "New Deal".

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