Composition Of Elites Research Articles

Transparency and Its Manifestations in Russian Media Discourse: A Case Study of HC Traktor

The article explores the manifestations of transparency related to the Russian political management in 2018–2019. A discursive analysis included the media materials covering the decision by Chelyabinsk (the seventh largest city in Russia) regional authorities, without public discussion, to allocate significant funds from the city budget to support HC Traktor. The public discussion of this issue was widely reflected in the media. Civic activists accessed official online documents concerning the participatory financing and initiated an online dialogue with the authorities, disagreeing with their decisions, offering alternatives, and suggesting that internal political management be made more public. The study systematizes various aspects of transparency: openness, availability, clarity, democracy, visibility and accountability. Since new media and social networks play a key role in the interaction between the state authorities and public, the paper considers all the structural elements of modern media communication: addressees, target audience, channels of information, the content and form of publications, their perlocutionary effect. The results of our study proved that communicative success was reached by breaking language standards, polycode information delivery, and storytelling techniques. The perlocutionary effect of this transparent media communication was difficult and deferred. The public dialogue did not satisfy the initial public demand, but it did influence the management practices (further reflected in Russia’s federal legislation) and accompanied changes in the composition of regional elites. Keywords: Transparency, information society, public authorities, tropes, stylistic devices, storytelling.

Bureaucracy and patrimonialism on Wall Street: How organizational forms contribute to elite reproduction

Echoing the recent revival of elite studies, we ask how financialization shapes the composition of contemporary elites and how organizational mechanisms transform its characteristics in terms of class, gender and race. We ask whether the bureaucratization of finance contributed to a ‘purge’ of particularisms. Or to the contrary, whether class, race and gender have become more salient criteria of elite selection with the emergence of neo-patrimonial organizational forms? Using Orbis data on legal forms of financial firms, and original sociodemographic data on founders and managers in key firms, we show that neo-patrimonial organizational forms based on trust networks are spreading within finance. Moreover, we demonstrate the impact of organizational forms on elite reproduction along gender, race and class lines. White men with upper-class background are over-represented in neo-patrimonial firms – mostly found in the hedge fund and private equity industry − compared to bureaucratic firms mostly found in banking. We suggest that financialization is not a modernization process but a recombination of bureaucracy and neo-patrimonial logics.

Some Aspects of the Evolution of Political Elites in the Countries of Eurasia

The second decade of the XXI century in the Eurasian space was marked by new socio-economic and political developments. Significant changes have taken place in the political landscape of Eurasia. They were largely due to the fact that the political processes in which the Eurasian states that appeared on the map of Eurasia after the collapse of the USSR began to change their character. New political actors have entered the arena of political activity, gradually replacing people from the former party nomenclature. The political elite was now formed not from graduates of the Soviet higher school, but mainly from those who received education in higher educational institutions of Great Britain, Germany, China, the USA, Turkey, France, Japan, etc. The consequence was the reorientation of such politicians, political scientists, administrative workers from the traditional values of Euro-Asian peoples to liberal pseudo-traditions characteristic of for the realities of transatlantic states (“hedonism for the body and narcissism for the soul”).Researchers note the generational change of political figures taking place in Central Asia today, the change in the composition of political elites, their positions in relation to neighboring countries and states that they consider as investors and allies. In the conditions of the SVO in Ukraine and the ongoing sanctions pressure on Russia, Russophobic sentiments have significantly increased both among the ruling circles and among ordinary residents of the Eurasian states. The media are especially trying to emphasize and develop this. The article provides examples of recent events in a number of EAEU countries and neighboring Eurasian states. Attention is drawn to the need for a wider dissemination of historical information about political and other events of modern and modern times in the Great Steppe. The effectiveness of the application of the principles and methods of economic, political, and cultural interaction of various state entities accumulated over the centuries in the heart of Eurasia is emphasized. Attention is drawn to the effectiveness of using education as a means of soft power to ensure the sustainable development of the states of the region. The prospects for the change of political generations, the need for “rejuvenation” of political elites are briefly described.Aim. To highlight significant aspects and perspectives of the evolution of political elites in Central Asian countries.Tasks. To introduce into scientific circulation the results of a comparative analysis of the formation and activity of political elites of new state formations in Eurasia at the present stage.Methods. Comparative-analytical method, systematic approach, transdisciplinary approach.Results. The changes in the political landscape of Eurasia and their impact on the activities of the political elites of the Central Asian countries are characterized. New elements of the state of the regional integration process are highlighted. The results of the use of education as a means of soft power in the change of political generations in the states of the region are shown.Conclusions. In modern conditions, a significant factor in the formation of a new political landscape on the Eurasian continent is the emergence of new centers of power and the change of political generations of the ruling ones. It is necessary to expand the use of historical experience in the implementation of vocational education to include young people in the management system in the Eurasian states.

Elite mobility and continuity during a regime change.

How does a regime change influence elite mobility? By collecting data on elites after the Meiji Restoration in Japan in 1868, through which Japan transitioned from a feudal regime to a modern regime, we provide new evidence that the impact of the regime change on elite mobility varies across the stages of the regime change. We analyze the impact of the regime change from two aspects: (1) the composition of elites or elite membership and (2) the internal hierarchy within them. The regime change opened an opportunity for commoners to join the elite group. After the Meiji Restoration, the share of elites whose fathers were commoners in the former regime increased, as did the influence of meritocracy on elite ranks. However, once the new regime was established, the elite hierarchy started to reflect the social stratum of the former regime and the influence of meritocracy declined.

Elite Transformation Towards Good Governance in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Understanding the scope of elite transformation towards good governance in developing countries’ polities is no doubt fastidious amid attendant context fluidity, institutional instabilities, and literature paucity. Nigeria’s post-colonial polity has witnessed various structural changes, especially in political regime and economic resources. Since the 1999 transition to democracy, no regime breakdown occurred. Curiously, the Nigerian polity has been experiencing spasmodic ethnic clashes, the onslaught of the menacing Boko Haram terror group, the economy disruptive Niger Delta insurgencies, and acute youth discontent with protests often countered with violence by state security agents. Moreover, social infrastructure provision for economic growth and development remains extensively precarious or non-existent. Most vexingly, systematic knowledge about the transformability of the policy decisive and often-critiqued political elite is deficient or sparsely jumbled. Much has been extolled about governance per se, yet context-relative and data-oriented knowledge remain scanty. To what extent is the Nigerian political executive elite composition transforming towards good governance since 1999? The article focuses on the Nigerian political elite transformability through good governance lenses and practices. It draws from relevant elite theories and governance approaches that underscore the methodology. It contends that the political elite innovation remains stagnant, despite relevant structural changes. The findings reveal insignificant elite dynamics towards good governance.

Elites on Equality: Room for Gender Balance and Ethnic Diversity in Leadership Positions?

Access to resources, wealth, and power positions varies systematically with membership in social categories. This article asks what role the elites themselves – as holders of power and regulators of access to influential positions – can play in maintaining, but also changing, the demographic composition of elites. Drawing on a unique survey among the entire Norwegian elite, we investigate what holders of elite positions believe are the main causes of gender imbalance and lack of ethnic diversity, and whether their beliefs influence their willingness to implement measures to promote gender equality and ethnic diversity. In line with expectations drawn from the literatures on policy representation and critical frame analysis, we find a strong, positive relationship between the belief in the importance of institutionalized causes of inequality and the willingness to introduce ameliorative measures to increase diversity. Conversely, we find a negative relationship between the belief in individualized explanations, such as the lack of qualifications, and the willingness to introduce measures. As elites are key holders of power, the findings imply that how elites view the causes of categorical inequality has strong bearings on the room for structural change.

Elite Studies: for a New Approach

AbstractAfter a period of declining interest in elites among social scientists, elite studies are now reviving. But it is important to understand why the decline occurred. We examine the largely contradictory explanations put forward by John Scott and Mike Savage and their related proposals for new research. We suggest an alternative approach that, we believe, would prove more rewarding. This entails treating elites as ‘small‐N’ entities, clearly distinct from social classes. On this basis, elites can be characterised through ‘prosopographical’ methods—the construction of collective biographies of their members. More reliable accounts can thus be produced of the social composition of different elites and, in turn, questions can be addressed as to how far their skewed recruitment results from the processes through which they are formally constituted as well as from the composition of the ‘pools’ from which their recruitment primarily occurs. Further questions follow about the implications for both equality of opportunity also also for the waste of talent and loss of diversity in elite memberships and for the neglected issue of the quality and the effectiveness of elites in whatever field they exist.

Changing places: comparing 1986 and 2019 elites in Scotland

How are Scottish elites educated? Is Scotland simply England writ small with Oxbridge and private schools predominating? Do private day schools mainly in the cities provide the core of elites? How important are education authority schools? How have patterns changed, if at all, between 1986 and 2019? Using ‘ Who's Who in Scotland’, this article charts the changing composition of elites especially among the political, legal and administrative classes in Scotland in comparison with business and ‘traditional’ elites. Drawing comparisons with analysis of British elites more generally, it appears that Scottish elites are educationally more ‘Scottish’ and state-educated today than they were in 1986.

Elites in transnational policy networks

AbstractIn this framing article for the special issue we contrast the aims and ambitions of three core approaches to elites in transnational policy networks and highlight where they have productive overlaps. The core approaches employ three distinctive theoretical lenses in their investigations: fields, hegemony, and institutions. We discuss how these approaches trace elites in transnational policymaking and associated methods, such as network analysis, sequence analysis and field theory, which highlight different aspects of how elites in transnational policy networks operate. Most of the contributions are concerned with mapping out elite careers and why career trajectories matter for field and network positions in transnational policymaking. While the contributions share this in common, we highlight the different ways in which the approaches can be used to dissect the same issues. Our contributions include pieces on the Trump administration, the professional ecologies of transnational policy elites, the treatment of transboundary political problems, the characteristics of technocratic elites, the racial and gender composition of transnational elites, and professional competition over transnational policy issues.

Five Centuries of Inequality and Socioeconomic Transformation in the Barcelona Area, 1451-1880

Unequal distribution of wealth is a matter of growing concern in contemporary society, but it is also one with deep roots in the past. Several authors have traced the origins of this inequality by reconstructing historical series and collecting and harmonising data from sources and records with uneven territorial and temporal cover (Milanovic et al. (2011), Alfani (2015) Piketty (2014 and 2020)). Few places in the world have data series that make it possible to reconstruct the patterns of socioeconomic inequality by drawing on a single source. Barcelona, including its hinterland, is one of these places. The Barcelona Historical Marriage Database, which was created under the auspices of the Advanced Grant project Five Centuries of Marriages headed by Professor Anna Cabré, has made it possible to analyse, over a period of five centuries, the distribution of wealth by studying the taxes levied on marriages held in the Diocese from 1451 to 1880. This number of Perspectives Demogràfiques offers an account of the evolution of inequality from the ancien régime through to the consolidation of industrialisation, the concentration of wealth, and the composition and replacement of economic elites in the Barcelona area.

SYSTEM AND DYNAMIC MODEL OF REPRODUCTION OF THE REGIONAL ELITES IN THE USSR AND RUSSIA

The article presents a system-dynamic model of the transformation of Russian regional administrative and political elites in 1985–2019. The model is implemented through the Powersim Studio program. To build the model, the mechanisms and channels of recruiting elites were analyzed, as well as the actors (social and political forces) that influenced the elite substitution system. Information about the object of modeling is formalized in the form of a diagram of stocks and flows. The mathematical apparatus is presented. The model allows simulating the replenishment of elites by people from different social environments and, accordingly, the dynamics of the compo-sition of elites. As an example, one of the alternative – counterfactual – scenarios of the evolution of elites, which was formed during a computer experiment with a model, is considered. The results of the study indicate a high heuristic productivity of system-dynamic modeling in the sociopolitical subject field.

Pakistan's Elections Debates: An Analysis of Electoral Knowledge Production

The political debates are the major indicators to open a dialogue and to set the tone of politics in society. The elections' debates in Pakistan are directly linked with the nature of the state and its ideological and elite composition. The post-colonial state structure and its reflection in electoral politics is a dominant determining factor which led to induce order through objectifying in existing electoral status quo. The dominant forces on the electoral scene have the power to interpret the existing knowledge production and debate for their own interest. Both objectivities and subjectivities in which electoral debates operate are in control of the post-colonial state structure. This paper is an attempt to explore the articulation of electoral debates in academic knowledge production. Further, how does existing academic debate explain the nature of electoral politics? Why?The purposively selected academic debates on elections revolved around functionalist and interpretivist paradigms influenced by the existing debate between subjectivity and objectivity. The descriptive method has been applied in exploring a research question under study.

An urban studies approach to elites: nurturing conceptual rigor and methodological pluralism

ABSTRACTThis special issue offers a set of methodologies to chart urban elites. Whereas most research has focused on the global super-rich, the authors in this special issue pay specific attention to the multidimensional urban geographies of elite reproduction and transformation, as elites depend on urban contexts for capital accumulation, consumption and leisure, and housing. In this article, we discuss theoretical and methodological antecedents in urban studies that have investigated economic elites. Building on but moving beyond these bodies of literature, we reject a-priori definitions of the size and shape of this social group and propose to pursue relational, place specific conceptualizations of elite composition and behavior. In particular, we argue, urban elite research would benefit from paying more attention to: (i) boundary work between elites and non-elites; (ii) intra-elite competition and distinction; (iii) national state spaces in determining elite composition; and (iv) the urban sense of belonging of economic elites.

Post-socialist transition, authoritarian consolidation and social origin of political elites: the case of Russian regional governors

ABSTRACTThe social origin of elites is important as it, first, affects the political decision-making, and second, is an indicator of social mobility important for the stability of a political system. However, how does the consolidation of an authoritarian regime affect the composition of elites in terms of their social origin? This study investigates this question looking at a sample of Russian regional governors in the period of 1992–2016. We document a gradual decrease of the share of governors from peasants’ and workers’ families, which is most likely related to abandoning the Soviet elite recruitment practices. At the same time, the main beneficiaries of the change (outside the ethnic regions) are not the most privileged groups (children of high-ranked bureaucrats and politicians) but rather offspring of intelligentsia (doctors, teachers and engineers). Interestingly, the military social origin became more important prior to Putin’s presidency, during the era when Russian politics was more competitive and pluralist.

Revolution without regime change: The evidence from the post-Euromaidan Ukraine

What effects does a revolution have on the stability or change of a hybrid regime? Has the Ukraine's regime changed since the 2014 revolution? To answer these questions I examine the changes in formal and informal institutions and the quantitative and qualitative composition of elites after the change of power in Ukraine in 2014. I argue that despite greater than in the post-orange period quantitative renewal of elites, qualitative change has not occurred. Meanwhile, the old operational code, or modus operandi, of elites' political culture, composed of clientelism, secretive deals and quota based nominations to government positions continues to operate. The lack of elites' renewal and the dominance of informal rules over formal procedures – two factors that keep the institutional core of Ukraine's hybrid regime unchanged.

The Fall of the Old Guards: Explaining Decentralization in China

In the absence of a credible constitution, what mechanism can commit authoritarian leaders to preserving local economic autonomy? We explore the political origin of the puzzling economic decentralization in China, which persisted for two decades. Through a detailed analysis of the composition of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, we find that the Cultural Revolution radically reoriented the composition of the elite selectorate from one favoring central agencies to one favoring local interests. Due to relatively lower turnover in subsequent years, this realigned elite incentive to favor decentralization policy, thus committing the Chinese leadership in the 1980s to a path of decentralization. In addition, the association between the party elite composition and policy orientation also emerged in other Leninist regimes, particularly Taiwan under Kuomintang (KMT)’s rule and the Soviet Union. The re-population of central officials in the Central Committee in the 1980s and the 1990s led to robust economic centralization into the 2000s, making decentralization an unlikely path of reform in the near future.

Introduction

Abstract The Mongol empire (1206–1368) caused massive transformations in the composition and functioning of elites across Eurasia. While the Mongols themselves obviously became the new Eurasian elite, their small number as compared to the huge territory over which they ruled and their initial inexperience in administrating sedentary realms meant that many of their subjects also became part of the new multi-ethnic imperial elite. Mongol preferences, and the high level of mobility—both spatial and social—that accompanied Mongol conquests and rule, dramatically changed the characteristics of elites in both China and the Muslim world: While noble birth could be instrumental in improving one’s status, early surrender to Chinggis Khan; membership in the Mongol imperial guards (keshig); and especially, qualifications—such as excellence in warfare, administration, writing in Mongolian script or astronomy to name but a few—became the main ways to enter elite circles. The present volume translates and analyzes biographies of ten members of this new elite—from princes through generals, administrators, and vassal kings, to scientists and artists; including Mongols, Koreans, Chinese and Muslims—studied by researchers working at the project “Mobility, Empire and Cross Cultural Contacts in Mongol Eurasia” at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The annotated biographies assembled here not only add new primary sources—translated from Chinese, Persian and Arabic—to the study of the Mongol Empire. They also provide important insights into the social history of the period, illuminating issues such as acculturation (of both the Mongols and their subjects), Islamization, family relations, ethnicity, imperial administration, and scientific exchange.

Against the tide. Female property and political shift in Late Medieval Turin

Despite statutory regulations aimed at limiting women’s rights over family wealth, late medieval Turinese sources provide a multifarious picture of women as owners or managers of patrimonies, in a range of ownership conditions in which more than just the dowry was brought into play. In addition to bequests from various relatives, in the 14th and 15th centuries women increasingly received significant shares of non-dotal assets and were chosen as universal heiresses in the absence of sons. Through an examination of notarial and cadastral records, this article explores the assortment of succession practices and scrutinizes the process which eventually led to an extension of female property rights in favour of only daughters. It is argued that this legal change resulted from a dramatic transformation in the elite composition in the late 15th century, which allowed the new local government to overcome custom and get a grip on patrimonies through female inheritance.

Rise and fall of elites: professionals as movers?

ABSTRACTA significant topic within elite research deserving more attention is the issue of the “rise and fall of elites”. This subject addresses changes in the composition of elites, the emergence of new elites and the decline of established ones, and covers questions like: In what ways do particular groups climb to elite power and status? What may explain the rise of new elite groups? In this paper, the focus is upon the role of professionals in the processes of elite ascent (and descent). Most holders of elite positions are professionals. This fact invites to draw on approaches within the professions literature to explain the rise of elites. This paper presents three empirical cases of elite ascent in Norway – the rise of economists, communication practitioners and public accountants. The three historical cases demonstrate that the professionals themselves actively sought to promote their expertise, and to expand their occupational territory. Nonetheless, the professionals’ own efforts to obtain collective advancement contributed to a lesser degree to their elite ascent than more fundamental economic and political changes in the Norwegian society.

State Ownership and Corporate Governance in China: An Executive Career Approach

China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) now comprise over sixty percent of the largest 500 companies in China and more than ten percent of Fortune Global 500 companies in the world. Despite their importance to China’s domestic economy and foreign investment strategy, many governance characteristics of the SOEs remain a black box, including the SOEs’ executive composition and recruitment development. This Article shifts away from the typical focus on how corporations function (i.e., corporate structure) to an examination of the people in charge. Such an approach is important for understanding corporate governance and economic development in countries with weak legal institutions. Using this approach, this Article investigates the legal guidelines for SOE executive recruitment and the evolution of the educational, political, and career attributes of the CEOs of China’s large SOEs over the past decade. Furthermore, this Article utilizes legal, historical, sociological, and comparative methods to explain the change and stability of executive composition in China’s large SOEs. In sum, SOE executive recruitment shows an orientation toward politically-bounded and firm-specific professionalism, as well as some faint potential for bottom-up and competition-driven marketization. SOE recruitment guidelines and the empirical findings in this Article raise questions about the adequacy and capacity of existing international laws and enforcement mechanisms to cope with the rise of Chinese SOEs, the challenges to improving Chinese corporate governance, and the underlying forces that form apparent similarities in elite composition across countries.