Russia ? old wine in a new bottle? The circulation and reproduction of Russian elites, 1983?1993

Endogenous elites: power structure and patron-client relationships

“…The elite's privileges were strengthened; the favourable treatment up to then enjoyed by a wide category of citizens was interrupted; the people's freedom got significantly reduced (Cohen, 1979), and, in comparison with the previous administration, the educational qualifications of the reduced body of elites that benefited from the system, i.e. the nomenklatura, were drastically improved (Hanley et al, 1995). In fact, years of economic decline compelled Brezhnev to restrict the accessibility to high offices because of the important cost of having, in his predecessors' fashion, a large clientele.…”

“…As it was approaching its end, and until its collapse, the regime carried out a number of reforms of the body of its elites. The most notable transformation was the relatively high turnover among these elites, whose ranks were filled with much younger, educated members of high social origins (Hanley, 1995;Kryshtanovskaya and White, 1996).…”

“…The new post-communist elites were drawn from Soviet-era nomenklatura members (Kryshtanovskaya and White, 1996). Despite the replacement of some of Breshnev's lieutenants by younger members of the old nomenklatura, the class reproduction has been very extensive (Hanley, 1995;Kryshtanovskaya and White, 1996:722).…”

"Czechmate": the old banking elite and the construction of investment privatization funds in the Czech Republic

“…Recent studies of post-socialist transitions in Hungary, Poland and Russia focus on individual mobility and suggest that circulation is highest in the political elite and lowest in the economic elite because managers of state-owned enterprises were able to convert their decision rights into ownership rights (Hankiss, 1990;Staniszkis, 1991;Hanley et al, 1996;Szelenyi et al, 1998;Wasilewski, 1998). Other research shows that entrepreneurs starting small businesses after the revolution were still drawn from members of the old order (e.g.…”

Growing Old Without Grace: Electoral Authoritarianism and the Age Composition of Russia's Regional Legislative Assemblies

“…Indeed, some of the post-communist democratisations in Eastern Europe led to a sweeping change in the age composition of the legislative personnel (Szelé nyi and Szelé nyi 1995). In other countries, including Russia, the scope of change-especially at the sub-national level (Hanley et al 1995)-was more limited, but it was not negligible either, reflecting the collapse of the Soviet-era gerontocracy (Gel'man and Tarusina 2000). In the course of the 2000s, Russia abandoned its imperfect electoral democracy in favour of electoral authoritarianism, a distinct political regime that, while remaining dictatorial in the basic patterns of power distribution and reproduction, at the same time permits certain institutions normally associated with democracy, such as partially competitive elections, legislatures and political parties (Gandhi and Przeworski 2007;Magaloni and Kricheli 2010;Schedler 2006).…”