Ideology among Russian elites: attitudes toward the United States as a belief system

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines ideological constraint among Russian foreign policy elites, using all seven waves of the Survey of Russian Elites 1993–2016 to explore four questions: (1) Do attitudes expressed by members of the Russian foreign policy elite form a constrained belief system? (2) What is the content of Russian elite belief systems? (3) Do different groups within the foreign policy community differ with regard to their ideological attachments? (4) How have these belief systems changed over time? My statistical analysis reveals two structured belief systems within Russia’s elite: one focused on attitudes toward the US and another regarding economic and political institutions. Attitudes toward the US have vacillated over time, compressing in a more hostile direction in 2016. In analyzing these elites’ attitudes, variation over time proves more significant than variation between elite groups.