Elites in Post-communist Russia: A Changing of the Guard?

Understanding the survival of post-Communist corruption in contemporary Russia: the influence of historical legacies

“…Conversely, another group of studies also explains the survival of the Communist legacy using descriptive analysis (Trang 1994). This literature is also linked to the studies of the role of Communist elite in the transformation of the Soviet nomenklatura into the modern Russian elite (Kryshtanovskaya and White 1996;Hughes 1997;Rivera 2000;Gaman-Golutvina 2008;Moses 2008) and to the investigations of how reforms affected the economic behavior of former CPSU members (Gerber 2000(Gerber , 2001Rona-Tas and Guseva 2001;Geishecker and Haisken-DeNew 2004).…”

Between Amity, Enmity and Europeanisation: EU Energy Security Policy and the Example of Bulgaria's Russian Energy Dependence

“…Russian energy actors are considered to have successfully penetrated 'into the highest political levels over time, regardless of their political affiliation' and as a result 'the import of energy sources becomes a serious channel for political influence coming from outside' (CSD 2010, p. 32). 25 This circulation of elites has been found elsewhere in East Central Europe (Szelényi & Szelényi 1995;Rivera 2000), and remains characteristic of the energy See also Bechev (2011, p. 120) and Pashev et al (2006, p. 38). sector in Bulgaria, where a 'closed circle of energy experts' (CSD 2010, p. 31) have a disproportionate influence on state energy policy-making (Tchalakov et al 2011, p. 12;Pashev et al 2006, p. 37). Pashev et al (2006, p. 41) also call into question the independence of energy experts in Bulgaria, which are in the main employed to provide consultancy services or are employed in the sector.…”

Elite networks and worldviews during the Yel'tsin years

“…Previous research on Russia's troubled transition during the 1990s also tends to focus on conflict emerging from different official positions, such as the struggle between the federal centre and localities or that between different political sectors for power (Kryshtanovskaya & White 1996;Lane 1996;Rigby 1999;Rivera 2000;Kirkow 1995). However, while such a focus has uncovered significant sources of contention, it neglects deeper reasons for the conflict.…”

“…For instance, Rigby (1999) questions the reproduction argument by using Mosca's concept of a political class to reveal a considerable circulation of elites (Mosca 1939). Rivera (2000) also refines typical definitions of the Soviet elite to uncover significant sectoral and geographic differences in the origins of the post-Soviet elite. By rejecting monolithic definitions of elites, these studies shift the focus from questions of the overall degree of turnover to more specific kinds of elite change.…”