Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy (Jun 2016)
Social background as a tool in shaping the political elite in Russia’s multi-ethnic regions: the cases of Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia) and Tuva
Abstract
While studying political elites in Russia, many researchers pay little attention to the issue of social background and the impact it has on employment in institutions of power on various levels. This article aims to shed light on this issue. By examining the social demographics of political elites in Russia’s multi-ethnic regions and major trends in their evolution, we argue that social background can be accepted as the key indicator for such analysis. We provide extensive data on how it influences the process of shaping the elites and the work of those who belong to this social group. Our study is based on comprehensive empirical research of political elites we conducted in Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia) and Tuva in 2004-2010. During the Soviet period, the political elites, due to the ideology of the cadre policy, were primarily of proletarian or peasant background. In the post-Soviet period, as attested by numerous researchers, the share of people with such backgrounds has significantly decreased. The current elites of Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia) and Tuva are largely the descendants of intelligentsia and civil servants and are closely linked by birth to their regions. A large part of these elites were born in the countryside. The current system of recruitment and promotion of government officials, like the Soviet one, places crucial emphasis on informal selection mechanisms, including such factors as social background, kinship, territorial community, personal loyalty, patronage, etc. This is also indicated by the survey of the members of political elites of the three regions. Our study has shown that career promotion is heavily influenced by the experience of working side-by-side with the region’s ‘first persons’, personal loyalty, patronage, kinship or ‘homeboy’ networks.
