Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:49:11.644Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Russian Legal Culture: An Analysis of Adaptive Response to an Institutional Transplant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Marina Kurkchiyan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article is an inquiry into Russian legal culture and is based on the assumption that any institution transplanted from one social environment to another will be reinterpreted and reshaped, so that it can be accepted into the receiving society. The process of adaptation creates an opportunity to examine the receiving society's established practices and way of thinking. To demonstrate their effects, this article explores the author's research findings carried out in two Russian towns where institutions of media self‐regulation were set up. The findings are analyzed comparatively in order to identify how the key players in the two towns interpreted the initial ideas, established procedures and rules for the newly set up institutions, and defined the roles that were attributed to them. The results of the two‐city case study are then used to interpret some specifics of the internal logic of the local legal culture.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , Spring 2009 , pp. 337 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2009 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Ajani, Gianmaria. 1995. By Chance and Prestige: Legal Transplants in Russia and Eastern Europe. American Journal of Comparative Law 43 (1): 93–117.Google Scholar
Beales, Ian. 2005. The Editors' Code of Practice. London: British Society of Editors.Google Scholar
Belin, Laura. 2001. Political Bias and Self‐Censorship in the Russian Media, In Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader, ed. Brown, Archie, 323–42. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berman, Harold J. 1974. Justice in the USSR: The Interpretation of Soviet Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Burbank, Jane. 1997. Legal Culture, Citizenship, and Peasant Jurisdiction: Perspectives from the Early Twentieth Century. In Reforming Justice in Russia 1864–1996: Power, Culture and the Limits of Legal Order, ed. Solomon, Peter H., 82–106. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Burbank, Jane. 2004. Russian Peasants Go to Court: Legal Culture in the Countryside, 1905–1917. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, William E. 2003. Russian Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Angela. 1999. Self Regulation and the Media. Federal Communication Law Journal 51:711–72.Google Scholar
Conley, John M., and O'Barr, William. 1990. Rules Versus Relationships: The Ethnography of Legal Discourse. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cotterrell, Roger. 2006. Law, Culture and Society: Legal Ideas in the Perspective of Social Theory. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Coulloudon, Virginie. 1999. Russian Regional Media: The Nation's Financial Crisis Threatens Journalists' Independence. Nieman Reports 53 (3): 30–34.Google Scholar
Cunningham, Neil, and Rees, Joseph. 1997. Industry Self‐Regulation: An Institutional Perspective. Law & Policy 19 (4): 363–414.Google Scholar
Damaska, Mirjan R. 1986. The Faces of Justice and State Authority: A Comparative Approach to the Legal Process. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
De Smaele, Hedwig. 2002. In the Name of Democracy: The Paradox of Democracy and Press Freedom in Post‐Communist Russia. Paper presented at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Workshop on Political Communication, the Mass Media, and the Consolidation of Democracy, March 22–27, in Turin, Italy.Google Scholar
Ekecrantz, Jan, and Olofsson, Kerstin, eds. 2000. Russian Reports: Studies in Post‐Communist Transformation of Media and Journalism. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Ewick, Patricia, and Silbey, Susan. 1998. The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Lawrence M. 1975. The Legal System: A Social Science Perspective. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Friedman, Lawrence M. 1990. The Republic of Choice: Law, Authority and Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Lawrence M. 1997. The Concept of Legal Culture: A Reply. In Comparing Legal Cultures, ed. Nelken, David, 34–49. Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
Galligan, Denis, and Matczak, Marcin. 2008. Formalism in Post‐Communist Courts. In Judicial Reforms in Central and Eastern European Countries, ed. Ramona, Coman and De Waele, J‐M, 226–50. Brugge, Belgium: Vanden Broele.Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. 1993. The Interpretation of Cultures. London: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gibson, John L. 2003. Russian Attitudes towards Rule of Law: An Analysis of the Survey Data. In Law and Informal Practices: The Post‐Communist Experience, ed. Galligan, Denis and Kurkchiyan, Marina, 77–91. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Glenn, Patrick H. 2005. The Idea of Legal Culture—A Critical Assessment. Paper distributed at Seminar Series on Legal Cultures, Centre for Socio‐Legal Studies, University of Oxford, March 9, in Oxford, England. In author's possession.Google Scholar
Gnes, Marco. 1997. The Italian Independent Administrative Authorities: The Transplantation of an American Experience? European Public Law 3:33–44.Google Scholar
Hendley, Kathryn. 1998. Remaking an Institution: The Transition in Russia from State Arbitrazh to Arbitrazh Courts. American Journal of Comparative Law 46 (1): 93–127.Google Scholar
Hendley, Kathryn. 2002. Suing the State in Russia. Post-Soviet Affairs 18 (2): 122–47.Google Scholar
Hendley, Kathryn. 2004. Business Litigation in the Transition: A Portrait of Debt Collection in Russia. Law & Society Review 38 (2): 305–48.Google Scholar
Humphreys, Peter J. 1996. Mass Media and Media Policy in Western Europe. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
IREX. 2004. Media Sustainability Index 2004, Russia. Washington, DC: International Research Exchange Board.Google Scholar
Kara‐Murza, E. C. 2004. Problemi prepodavania Russkogo iazika jurnalistam i lingvisticheskaia expertiza. [Problems of teaching Russian to journalists and linguistic expertise]. V Iiazik sovremennix SME [In language of contemporary mass media], ed. Savinova, O. N., 4–20. Nizhniy Novgorod: Russian Ministry of Education and University of Nizhniy Novgorod.Google Scholar
Krygier, Martin. 1999. Institutional Optimism, Cultural Pessimism and the Rule of Law. In The Rule of Law after Communism, ed. Krygier, Martin and Czarnota, Adam, 77–105. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate/Dartmouth.Google Scholar
Kurkchiyan, Marina. 2003. The Illegitimacy of Law in Post‐Soviet Societies. In Law and Informal Practices: the Post‐Communist Experience, ed. Galligan, Denis and Kurkchiyan, Marina, 25–46. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kurkchiyan, Marina. 2007. The Impact of the Transition on the Role of Law in Russia. In Explorations in Legal Cultures, ed. Bruinsma, Fred and Nelken, David. Themanummer 3, Recht der Werkelijkheid [Law in Action]. 2007:75–94.Google Scholar
Kurkchiyan, Marina. 2008. Disputes and Their Resolutions in Russia and China: A Comparative Perspective. Working Paper. Oxford: Foundation for Law, Justice and Society.Google Scholar
Kurkchiyan, Marina. Forthcoming. What to Expect from Institutional Transplants? An Experience of Setting Up Media Self‐regulation in Russia and Bosnia. Law & Policy.Google Scholar
Legrand, Paul. 2001. What Legal Transplant? In Adapting Legal Cultures, ed. David Nelken and Johannes Feest, 56–70. Oxford: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
Leonardi, Danielo. 2004. Self‐regulation and the Print Media: Codes and Analysis of Codes in Use by Press Councils in Countries of the EU. http://www.selfregulation.info/iapcoda/0405‐press‐report‐dl.pdf (accessed July 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Levada, Yuriy. 2000. Chelovek v korruptivnom prostranstve. Pazmyshleniya na materiale i na polyakh [Man in a corrupt environment: reflections on materials and marginal notes. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskie I sotsial'nie peremeny[Monitoring of public opinion: economic and social transformations], 5 (49): 7–14 (issued by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre).Google Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart. 1993. Business Adaptation to Regulation: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know? Law & Policy 15 (3): 259–70.Google Scholar
Markov, Sergiej. 2001. Russian Media in a Revolutionary Period. Russia Watch 6:22–25.Google Scholar
McBarnet, Doreen, and Whelan, Christopher. 1991. The Elusive Spirit of the Law: Formalism and the Struggle for Legal Control. Modern Law Review 54:848–73.Google Scholar
Media, Law, and Policy Institute. 2005. Supporting the Development of Institutions of Media Self‐Regulation in the Nizhniygorodskaia and Rostovskaia Regions: Report on the Implementation of the Project. http://www.medialaw.ru/selfreg/index.html (accessed July 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle. 1990. Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working‐Class Americans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Meyer, John W., and Rowan, Brian. 1977. Institutional Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83:340–63.Google Scholar
Morozov, I. A., and Sleptsova, I. S. 2004. Krug igry. Prazdnik i igra b zhizni sevepnorusskogo krest'yanina (XIX–XX) [Circle of the game: festival and game in life of the northern russian peasantry (XIX–XX). Moscow: INDRIK.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura, and Grande, Elisabetta. 2002. Current Illusions and Delusions about Conflict Management in Africa and Elsewhere. Law & Social Inquiry 27 (3): 573–94.Google Scholar
Nashe Vremya [Our Times]. 2004. Tsiganskoe Ozherel'e [Gypsy's Necklace] November 10, 12.Google Scholar
Nelken, David, ed. 1997. Puzzling Out Legal Culture: A Comment on Blakenburg. In Comparing Legal Cultures, 41–68. Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
Nelken, David. 2004. Using the Concept of Legal Culture. Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy 29:1–28.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1989. Institutional Change and Economic History. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 145:238–45.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, Michael, and Roberts, Simon. 1998. Dispute Processes: ADR and the Primary Forms of Decision Making. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Press Complaints Commission (PPC). 2004. PCC Annual Report 2004. http://www.pcc.org.uk/assets/80/2004.pdf (accessed July 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Price, Monroe E., Richter, Andrei, and Peter K., Yu. 2002. Russian Media Law and Policy in the Yeltsin Decade. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Richter, Andrei. 2005. Conversations with Russian Readers. The Guardian (London), May 14.Google Scholar
Rosstat, . 2004. Itogi Vserossiiskoi perepisi naseleniia 2002 goda: Tom 3. Kniga 2: Obrazovanie [The all Russian‐population census 2002, vol. 3, part 2: education]. Moscow: Goskomstst Rossii.Google Scholar
Rutland, Peter, and Kogan, Natasha. 2001. Russian Mafia: Between Hype and Reality. In Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader, ed. Brown, Archie, 139–47. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Selznick, Peter. 1957. Leadership in Administration. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Smith, Gordon B. 1996. Reforming the Russian Legal System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, W. Richard. 2008. Institutions and Organizations: Ideas and Interests. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Shannon, Richard. 2001. A Press Free and Responsible: Self‐Regulation and the Press Complaints Commission 1991–2001. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Shavell, Steven. 2002. Law versus Morality as Regulators of Conduct. American Law and Economics Review 4 (2): 227–57.Google Scholar
Shchepanskaya, T. B. 2001. Zony nasiliya: po materialam russkoy sel'skoy i sovremennykh subkul'turnykh traditsiy [Zones of violence: based on materials from the russian countryside and contemporary sub‐cultural traditions]. In Antropologiya nasiliya [Anthropology of violence], ed. Bochrov, V. V. and Tishkov, V. A., 115–77. St. Petersburg: Nauka.Google Scholar
Silbey, Susan. 2005. After Legal Consciousness. Annual Review of Law and Social Science 1:323–68.Google Scholar
Solomon, Peter H. Jr. 2004. Judicial Power in Russia: Through the Prism of Administrative Justice. Law & Society Review 38 (3): 549–82.Google Scholar
Solomon, Peter H. Jr., and Foglesong, Todd S. 2000. Courts and Transition in Russia: The Challenge of Judicial Reforms. Oxford: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Vartanova, Elena. 2002. Corporate Transformation of the Russian Media. In Russian Media Law and Policy in the Yeltsin Decade, ed. Price, Monroe E., Richter, Andrei, and Yu, Peter K., 249–53. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
White, James Boyd. 1985. Essays on Rhetoric and Poetics of the Law. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Zassoursky, Yassen N. 2002. Freedom and Responsibility in the Russian Media. In Russian Media Law and Policy in the Yeltsin Decade, ed. Price, Monroe E., Richter, Andrei, and Yu, Peter K., 89–94. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar

Statutes Cited

Grazhdanskiy processual'niy kodeks Possiyskoy Federatsii. 2008 [Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation]. Moscow: Omega‐L.Google Scholar