The Book Prize Festival kicks off with an evening Social with Alena Ledeneva, author of Russian Pendulum. Her shortlisted book traces the patterns and paradoxes that shape Russia’s politics, history, economy and society, from the perspective of the informal networks that operate in the corridors of power. Can we predict where the Russian pendulum might swing next?

The evening will feature a short presentation of the book in conversation with Eva Ladipo, a showcase of Ledeneva’s artwork visualising the invisible networks that govern our world, and music composed for the book by Benjamin Woodgates. Guests will also have the opportunity to play the Informality Game and step into the dilemmas of decision‑making in complex contexts. Participants will discover how choices depend on circumstances – and how informal networks can be both enabling and constraining.

This event is part of the Pushkin House Book Prize Festival. Festival Passes are now on sale, which offer priority access to all events. Book early and take advantage of our early-bird offer until 15 August.

Image credit: Alena Ledeneva, Inner Circle (2016) 

Alena V. Ledeneva  is Professor of Politics and Society at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK. She studied Economics at the Novosibirsk State University (1986) and Social and Political Theory at the University of Cambridge (Newnham College, M.Phil.1992; Ph.D.1996). She’s been a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at New Hall College at Cambridge in 1996–1999; a Senior Fellow at the Davis Center, Harvard University (2005); a Simon Professor at the University of Manchester (2006), a Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Paris (2010). She authored a number of books including How Russia Really Works (Cornell University Press, 2006) and Russia’s Economy of Favours (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and numerous articles. Her expertise is on Russia and global affairs, global governance and corruption; informal economy; economic crime; informal practices in corporate governance; role of networks and patron-client relationships. 

Eva Ladipo is a German author and journalist based in London. She has published two novels and a bestselling non-fiction book. She writes regularly for German papers. She studied Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University and holds a Ph.D. Her supervisor for the doctoral degree at Cambridge was Alena V. Ledeneva.

5a Bloomsbury Square London WC1A 2TA