Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Introduction
Introduction 29 leading individuals to develop multiple strategies in order to cope with the uncertainty of the present. In a general panorama of transformation, institutional restructuring and the forthcoming accession to the EU it is not surprising if the importance of webs of networks that tie individuals or groups of individuals is recognised. Networks are seen as one possible response to the overall transformation. Thus, for instance, the relationship between people and formal institutions is increasingly and significantly determined by the role of personal ties (acquaintances, friends and relatives). This may point to the dominance of informal over formal channels of social interaction (see Böröcz 2000). Several studies emphasise that in order to understand the present paths of the postsocialist countries one needs to pay adequate attention to the processes through which actors recombine their knowledge, connections and networks within the changed institutional panorama (see for instance Grabher and Stark 1997; Ledeneva 1998). One recent demonstration of this trend is the strength of interest of the World Bank Group in strategies and patterns of accumulation of "social capital”, seen as the important prerequisite for democracy and market economy (Paldam and Svendsen 2000). The “recipe” that some economists proposed for the development of Central Eastern European countries was the complete dismissal of the “legacies of the past”, i.e. the remains of the socialist informal institutional system (such as secondary or “grey” economic forms, informal and clientelistic networks and political cliques) and the establishment of “healthy” social networks grounded in democratic environments. However, optimistic expectations had often been disappointed because of the complexity and ambiguity of the transformation paths followed by the postsocialist countries. The insecurity of the present time, political and economic instability, the weakness of the new political and social institutions, inequalities at all levels of the social world and the widening economic gap not only between "west" and “east” but also within the “east” itself are only some of the factors
