Elite Rule Research Articles

The Spatial Model of the Ukrainian Early Modern State in the Beliefs of the Cossack Elite and the Ruling Elites of Muscovy

The Spatial Model of the Ukrainian Early Modern State in the Beliefs of the Cossack Elite and the Ruling Elites of Muscovy

Foreign Policy of India as the Reflection of Change in its Ruling Elite

The article examines the changes in the formulation, prioritisation and implementation of India’s foreign policy objectives as a result of a significant renewal of its political elite, triggered by the economic reforms that began in the 1990s. It is argued that India’s ruling elite is now largely identical to its political elite, whose mindset, although considerably younger and better educated, is more than ever defined by its self-identification with traditional values, which are religious and, for the vast Hindu majority, caste-based. At the same time, the composition of India’s elite has broadened during the reform years, mainly through the inclusion of middle and even lower castes in the traditional hierarchy. Many of its representatives tend to associate the strengthening of the country with a return to the “correct” cultural and civilisational basis which, in the centuries before foreign conquest, gave India what the y saw as its natural primacy in the world. The main change is the emergence of a sense of self-confidence among the elite, on which the so-called “new nationalism” of the “man of the people”, the current Prime Minister N. Modi, is based. Drawing on his statements, speeches by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, and articles by Indian and Russian scholars, the author shows the innovations introduced by the Prime Minister in promoting India’s core national interests in a changing world. The article examines the creation of India’s own sphere of influence within the framework of the new Indo-Pacific strategy, the combination of cooperation and competition in relations with China, the reasons for the dynamic expansion of interaction with the United States and the “red lines” involved, the motives for developing a particularly privileged strategic partnership with Russia and for using multilateral formats, and the return to India’s agenda of the task of gaining the status of the main voice of the Global South. It is concluded that approaches to the imperative of building a multipolar world order “in which India would be a strong pole”, based on the priority goal of establishing for it the status of a great power and a global actor in world politics, create historic opportunities for increasing Russian-Indian interaction.

Democracy, Undeluded?

ABSTRACT This article critically examines Busk's Democracy in Spite of the Demos, which critiques the “categorical imperative of democracy.” Although Busk effectively challenges the commitment to value-neutral democratic procedures as the foundation for legitimate law, his alternative, curtailing powerful interests ability to manipulate voters using “socially necessary delusions,” risks establishing elite rule. This article instead proposes basic liberal rights as the normative foundation for legitimate public order and militant democracy as its most effective institutional safeguard, arguing that this combination better realizes human emancipation.

A comment on Powell and formal models of power sharing

Ruling elites commonly concede institutional reforms such as expanding the franchise. In existing models, sharing power in this manner enables ruling elites to credibly commit to perpetual redistribution. In ‘Power Sharing with Weak Institutions,’ Powell (2024) explains why the commitment problem runs deeper: When institutions are weak, elites are likely to block the implementation of promised institutional concessions. I provide new insights into three foundational premises of Powell (2024) and related models. First, I identify a necessary condition for a common result: Ruling elites always minimize permanent power-sharing concessions vis-à-vis temporary concessions, subject to preventing revolt. However, unless reforming institutions is somehow costly, these two tools are perfect substitutes. Second, I discuss how to conceptualize institutional strength within this class of models. Third, in weak institutional environments, I suggest how scholars can model credible commitments to share power or democratize.

A Regional System under Tight-Knit Elite Rule: The Last Attempt to Introduce Decentralization in Early Italy

Abstract This article discusses a regionalization project, known as Minghetti’s bill, that was presented to the Italian parliament just after the creation of the country in 1861, debated at length, and finally rejected. The bill was the most advanced point reached on the decentralization front in Italy before the Second World War. Minghetti's bill is the first example of a regional process ever brought to parliamentary discussion. It was also a precursor of other regionalization schemes, such as the creation of French regions in 1972.

Recenzie - ANDRAS BOZOKI Rolling Transition and the Role of Intellectuals. The Case of Hungary, 1977-1994 (Budapest-Vienna-New York: Central European University Press, 2022), 620 pp.

Transition to democracy in Eastern and Central Europe occurred as a consequence of the way communist regimes dismantled. Not as a momentum, but rather as a continuous overlapping series of phenomena, events around 1989 happened because of the actors, especially the intellectuals, that created them. This is the main thesis of András Bozóki’s book published in 2022, Rolling Transition and the Role of Intellectuals. The Case of Hungary, 1977-1994. This work fills the gap in a literature that focuses mainly on the democratic transition in Eastern and Central Europe as a unitary space or on the Ruling Elites in a newly capitalist system.1 More recently, political writings on Hungary discuss the democratic backsliding and the illiberal turns of the regime, including it in a regional framework affected by populism, and Euroscepticism.

Majtényi, George. 2021. Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary. Translated by Thomas Cooper, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 366 pp.

Majtényi, George. 2021. Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary. Translated by Thomas Cooper, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 366 pp.

Deputations of the Kazakh Ruling Elite to the Court of the Russian Emperors (mid – second half of the 19th century)

The article explores the history of Kazakh deputations to the Russian imperial court in the mid-to-late 19th century. For the first time in historiography, we have analyzed the deputative missions of the Kazakhs during this period as a mechanism for interaction between the imperial ruling circles and the steppe elite. The article aims to scrutinize the goals and objectives of sending deputations, the composition of participants, and the characteristics of this practice throughout its existence.
 Amidst the social transformation of Kazakh society – spurred by the integration of the steppe region into the broader imperial space – the status of the local elite began to be determined more by personal merits to the empire than by class origin. The Russian authorities viewed the practice of deputations as a means of bolstering the loyalty of the steppe aristocracy, and also to draw them in as participants in the empire’s civilizing mission in the East.
 For the Kazakh elite, this practice provided an opportunity to solidify the authority among their peers, served as recognition of their merits at the highest level, and offered a path to integrate into the pan-Russian administrative class. Over the period in question, the number of petitions submitted by representatives of the Kazakh elite has consistently dwindled. By the end of the 19th century, the practice of deputations had ultimately degenerated and began to assume a mostly symbolic role.
 This article is intended for specialists studying the policy of the Russian Empire in Kazakhstan.

ПЕРВЫЙ МАНИФЕСТ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО АНГЛОИЗРАИЛИЗМА – ПРЕДВЫБОРНАЯ ПРОПОВЕДЬ ЭЗРЫ СТАЙЛЗА (1783 г.)

The article examines the ideology of Anglo-Israelism in the 1783 sermon «The United States has risen to glory and honor» by the American Congregationalist priest and scientist Ezra Stiles (1727-1795). The analysis of the political, religious, historical and philosophical ideas contained in it is carried out. It is shown that, despite the protection of constitutional rights and religious freedom, the author of the sermon defended the monarchy and was a supporter of the rule of an elected elite, an elected «democratic aristocracy». It seems that the principles of conservative Christianity advocated by Stiles were combined with support for the concept of «a City upon a Hill» in 1630, i.e. ideas about the God-chosen Puritans – the first settlers, who created the New Jerusalem or Zion in America. The author supported the pseudo-historical theory of the origin of ethnic groups. In the United States, he saw a «new Israel», chosen by God, called to command the conquered and subordinate «Canaanites» – the American aborigines. Europeans were considered descendants of the Biblical patriarch Japheth, which corresponded to the existing Christian tradition. In the Indians of the New World, related to the peoples of Siberia, he saw the descendants of representatives of the tribes, expelled by the ancient Israelites after the conquest of Palestine, described in the Bible and scattered throughout the world. In his opinion, the continued mass migration from Europe to America will lead to the decline of the Old World. Immigration will give a new impetus to the development, effective development and economic prosperity of the American continent, where the number of people of European origin will increase significantly. In the future, according to Stiles, there will allegedly be an extinction of races other than Caucasians (Indians and African Americans). Such ideas served as the rationale for American exceptionalism, Western-centrism, Eurocentrism and territorial expansion of the United States.

Privileges and „Patronage“ instead of Social Care: "Fighters Against Fascism" in the Social Policies in Communist Bulgaria, 1944–1951

This article analyses the formation and institutionalisation of the system of privileges in communist Bulgaria. Right after September 1944, the establishment of a system of privileges was initiated, a system that created special categories of citizens opposed in this way to the rest of society. From 1944 on, former partisans became part of the rul-ing elite and granted themselves and their relatives many privileges, transforming themselves into a specially privileged caste. The analysis is based on the archive doc-uments of the Union of the People’s Guerrilla Fighters and the Union of the Fighters against Fascism – institutions existing in the period 1945–1951. The activities of the ‘fighters’ were aimed at substituting in very short terms after the take over the vectors of the public memory in order to legitimize the new power resources. The social system of total control and caste privileges discredited the idea of modern society, social freedom and equality. The author analyses both legislation as well as the ways in which privileges were constructed in social policies in communist Bulgaria.

The Ruling Elite in Russia at the End of the 15th — 17th Сenturies in Modern Russian and Foreign Historiography

The article is devoted to modern Russian and foreign historiography of the ruling elite (the Sovereign's Court) of the 16th — 17th centuries. The article analyzes both general special studies on the ruling elite and works that touch upon certain aspects of the history of the court (study of the genealogy of noble families, land ownership of the nobility, analysis of the history of boyar clans, participation of the elite in the court struggle, anthropological plots concerning the mentality, religious life, everyday life of the upper classes of Russian society). The paper notes nowadays a significant increase of interest in the study of the nobility, including the ruling elite. It is shown that the studies of the last decades are developing in line with those directions that were outlined in soviet and foreign historiography back to the 80s of 20th century Modern researchers of the history of the ruling elite pay great attention not only to the traditional institutional approach, but also to the study of informal relations in the court environment, inner—family ties, behavioral strategies at court, cultural needs, and religiosity of representatives of noble families. Particularly noted is the introduction into scientific circulation of a huge array of new sources for studying the composition and structure of the Sovereign's court, family ties, land ownership of the ruling elite, which creates favorable prerequisites for further study of this topic.

Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary: Villas, Hunts, and Soccer Games. By György Majtényi. Translated by Thomas Cooper. Studies in Hungarian History Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021. 366 pp.

Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary: Villas, Hunts, and Soccer Games. By György Majtényi. Translated by Thomas Cooper. Studies in Hungarian History Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021. 366 pp.

The Role of the Islamic Factor in the Daily Life of the Ruling Elite of Ottoman Egypt in the Second Half of the 18th Century

This article focuses on the religious practices of the ruling elite of Ottoman Egypt in the second half of the 18th century. The interest in this unstudied topic stems from the paradoxical situation that developed in the Egyptian Eyalet, one of the most important and authoritative religious and cultural centers of the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the autochthonous population were supporters of the Islamic faith, but the Egyptian ruling elite was reproduced at the expense of foreigners from Christian families. Accordingly, most of them were introduced to Islamic values only from the moment they entered the country. The main content of the study is the analysis of the peculiarities of spiritual and moral-value orientations of the ruling emirs of Egypt, as well as the study of the main forms of their daily religious practices. On the basis of the study of a wide range of sources it was established that the system of religious views prevailing in their community was a vivid example of religious syncretism, which included elements of Sunni Islam, Sufism, as well as folk traditions, superstitions and cults. As a result of the studies, the author concludes that the new generation of Egyptian military and political elite, that came to power in Egypt in the mid-18th century, was less sensitive to matters of religious faith than their predecessors. Nevertheless, Islam continued to play an important role in their everyday life, influencing their conduct patterns.

From National Ruling Elite to Global Political Class

The global political class has new coordinating, political and ideological bodies. These groups form a bundle of interests that reinforce each other, which can be viewed as a transnational political class.

Fortified Communities in the South Caucasus: Insights from Mtsvane Gora and Dmanisis Gora

ABSTRACT Fortresses are defining features of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age landscape in the South Caucasus, with hundreds of sites recorded in archaeological surveys in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and northeastern Turkey. Yet, research on how these communities functioned is dominated by evidence from the small fraction of these sites that have been excavated, and regional variability remains underexplored. This paper discusses excavations at two such fortresses in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands and contextualizes them within global discussions about fortresses and their associated communities. Analysis of architecture, ceramics, and small finds identified evidence for a diverse range of activities within these compounds, including both craft production and ritual activity. While the size and construction of the two fortresses differ, the evidence for significant occupation at both suggests that these fortresses were durable communities, not temporary refugia. Further work is necessary, however, to assess whether these fortresses were highly ordered institutions centralized under elite rule or heterarchical communities joined by common interest.

The Most Denounced, the Least Punished: Ruling Elites, Illegalisms, and Anti-Money Laundering

Abstract This article contributes empirically and conceptually to the literature on finance and security in the light of anti-money laundering and to discussions on international crime control and social order. It draws on unique data in Switzerland to question the chain of security through which the main global policy against crime is produced in concreto. What and who is denounced by financial institutions for suspicious activities? What and who is ultimately punished by criminal justice institutions? Is the fight against illicit finance nothing more than a “broken enforcement system,” or a universal punitive instrument, regardless targeted actors? What does it mean for the general social order at the time of financial capitalism? The article revisits Foucault's lost in translation concept of illegalism to shift the questioning of international crime control to the issue of power relationships’ recomposition and social, class differentiation. As a global policy against criminality at large, anti-money laundering represents a critical entry point to question the general economy of illegalisms from an international perspective. The article makes explicit that economic and financial illegalisms are less punished than others, and they are even less so when practiced by ruling elites, even if they are the most denounced at first.

Geheimnis und Verborgenes im Mittelalter: Funktion, Wirkung, und Spannungsfelder von okkultem Wissen, verborgenen Räumen und magischen Gegenständen

Geheimnis und Verborgenes im Mittelalter: Funktion, Wirkung, und Spannungsfelder von okkultem Wissen, verborgenen Räumen und magischen Gegenständen

Gdańsk as a Hanseatic City in the Late Middle Ages. Selected Aspects: Symbolism, Ruling Elites, Maritime Contacts

For 13th‑century Gdańsk, as for other cities of medieval Europe, it was important to create a community identity, which was expressed in the symbolism of seals and later also heraldic colours and coats of arms. In Gdańsk a seal of 78 mm in diameter, which survives on a document dating from 1299 (hence from pre‑Teutonic times), depicts an unmanned cog borne along by the waves. In late medieval Gdańsk, as in other Hanseatic towns, power belonged to elite families, who formed a ruling group. During 1454–1525 families such as the Falckes, Bischofs, Bocks, Ferbers, Scheweckes, Suchtens, and Zimmermanns each had two members who served as mayors. Maritime contacts played one of the most vital roles in the social and economic life of late medieval Gdańsk, and these included trade links with the English –competitors of the Hanse who could not be taken lightly.

The Influence of the Ruling Elite on Political Activity in the Conditions of Destructuring the Essence of the Philosophy of Law

Different policy actors have different influences on the process. Most do not directly participate in political life: a particular layer of people called the political elite is more likely to get involved in it. From a philosophical point of view, the political elite is mainly defined as a minority of society, a somewhat independent, relatively privileged group (or a set of groups) that has the appropriate psychological, social and political qualities and is directly involved in the formation and implementation of political decisions related to the use of state power or influence on it. The main goal of the article is to characterise the negative influence of the ruling elite on the formation of political activity in the context of revealing its possibilities of destructuring the essence of the philosophy of law itself. The methodology was based on the main historical and theoretical research methods that made it possible to achieve the set goal. As a result of the study, the main elements of the negative influence of the ruling elite were characterised, its place in the philosophy of law was determined and which destructuring consequences it has.

The Ruling Elite in Russia: Continuity or Change?

The third Vladimir’s Putin presidential term (2012-2018) was a significant period for the Russian Federation political security. Social protests, the annexation of Crimea, conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Syria, as well as economic sanctions and the deepening Russian isolationism - these are just some of the problems that Russian authorities had to face to ensure political stability. The aim of this article was to examine the changes and conflicts that occurred within President Putin’s inner circle between 2012 and 2018. The research was conducted according to content analysis method. It revealed that in 2012-2018 the attempts to weaken the decision-making power elite as a whole failed.