INFORM | Closing the Gap between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans
One of our topics is related to research on Western Balkan's challenges towards EU integration. Here we will present the Horizon 2020 funded INFORM project, focusing on "Closing the Gap between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans".
INFORM aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between the formal institutions brought about by EU integration processes and the informal institutions prevalent in the Western Balkan countries. Formal institutions and rules, such as legal and political regulations, as well as organizations and mechanisms of their implementation, determine formal constraints. Informal institutions, on the other hand, comprise the unwritten rules within a society and highlight the importance of such aspects of social life as conventions, cultural norms, and networks of affinity. The project is based on the premise that, shaken by radically changing ideological and legal structures over the past century, citizens of the Western Balkan countries continue to rely on informal social networks to ensure their socio-economic and political security. These parallel processes have resulted in the widening of the gap between formal institutions and informal social practices. Consequently, the distance between proclaimed goals and existing practices represents a key challenge to the European integration of Balkan societies. INFORM aims to address this paradox by explicating the key formal and informal “rules of the game” that underpin tactical maneuvering between formal and informal institutions in various spheres and at various levels of social life in the Western Balkan countries. The identification and deciphering of the unwritten rules allows for a comparison to the demands and recommendations laid out in the key EU integration. The meticulous, bottom-up research, based in ethnographic approach, will result in policy recommendations aimed at acknowledging informality as part of social life and closing the gap between formal and informal institutions in Balkan societies.
News
-
Maximum impact: boosting skills in the Western Balkans
On 29 June 2022, the ETF hosted another in its series of Learning Connects discussions. The latest instalment brought an international panel together to discuss Impact investment for skills and societies...
-
Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia participate in the ESS Round 10
Three Western Balkan economies (Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia) have ensured participation in the ERIC ESS (including membership fee and fieldwork costs) for the 2021 and Round 10 of the fieldwork...
-
Second Inform Newsletter released (March 2018)
This bulletin is issued by the Horizon 2020 funded INFORM project, focusing on "Closing the Gap between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans". The project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding...
[ Show all News ]
Events
-
Resilience through Diversity: Involving Civil Society in the Danube Strategy The 9th Danube Participation Day takes place on 18 October 2022, back-to-back with the 11th EUSDR Annual Forum...
-
INFORM National workshop in Serbia
The Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe will host the second INFORM consultative meeting with representatives of the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia ...
-
On 8 February 2019, the INFORM project will host the final conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[ Show all Events ]
Organisations
-
Center for Intradisciplinary Social Applied Research
CISAR is a non-governmental, not-for-profit and non-political organization based in Sarajevo. Its main aim is to conduct and promote intradisciplinary and applied research on socially relevant issues – ...
-
Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research
The Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research is a unique center for folkloristic, ethnological, ethnomusicological and related scientific research in the Republic of Croatia, at which the emphasis...
-
Social Research Kosova is a media, market and public opinion research company based in Prishtina, Kosova. Social Research Kosova covers the whole territory of Kosova in all surveys. Social Research...
[ Show all Organisations ]
Documents
-
This study provides an overview of impact investment and skills creation in innovation, covering the main features of impact investment, the historical development of the phenomenon, and how it ...
-
WBC-RTI.INFO Newsletters sent in 2018
WBC-RTI.INFohas prepared several newsletter issues in 2018. Thematic articles were drafted while relevant stakeholders contacted and in some cases also interviewed.
-
INFORM is an international three-year research project that studies the interactions between formal and informal institutions in the Western Balkan societies, as well as tracks the influence of these ...
[ Show all Documents ]
Links
-
Impact investment for skills and societies: a focus on the Western Balkans
On 29 June 2022, the ETF hosted another in its series of Learning Connects discussions. The latest instalment brought an international panel together to discuss Impact investment for skills and societies...
Projects
-
INFORM | Closing the Gap between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans
HORIZON 2020 Funding of 2.4 million euros for the project, entitled “Closing the Gap between Formal and Informal Institutions in the Balkans” will run for three years and is led by Eric Gordy, on behalf...
