Replace the Elite

The article presents the authors reflections on Michael Lind’s book “The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite” that tries to explain the on-going process of the rise of populism and the decline of liberalism in the West. Reflecting upon the theme and theses of the book, the author of the article analyzes the phenomenon of the managerial elite formation as a new type of the ruling class that is estranges from the social environment and value settings of the majority of population in the Western countries, and this new class sets the current economic and political agenda. Going further than the author of the book, Patrick Deneen calls for the radical replacement of the current elite libertarian ethos for popular conservatism targeted at general material and social capital, family and local communities support

Elite Studies: For a New Approach

We provide a critical review of explanations given for the decline of elite studies in the later twentieth century and of related proposals for their revival. We then suggest an alternative approach to elite studies that could, we believe, prove sociologically more rewarding. This entails a broad understanding of elites, understood, however, as small-N entities. On this understanding, elites can then be characterised through prosopographical methods – the construction of collective biographies of their members. A better understanding may thus be gained of the degree of social exclusiveness of different elites, and on this basis further questions can be taken up of how far exclusiveness results from the varying processes through which elites are formally constituted and how far from the composition of the pools within which such elite recruitment occurs. Finally, questions can be addressed of the implications of social skewness in elite formation for equality of opportunity and for the wastage of talent that inequality entails, and then further for the so far sociologically neglected issue of the level of performance – the effectiveness – of elites in whatever field they exist.

The Oxford World History of Empire

The Oxford World History of Empire, Vol.1: The Imperial Experience is dedicated to synthesis and comparison. Following a comprehensive theoretical survey and world-historical synthesis, fifteen chapters analyze and explore the multifaceted experience of empire across cultures and through five millennia. The broad range of perspectives includes: scale, world systems and geopolitics, military organization, political economy and elite formation, monumental display, law, mapping and registering, religion, literature, the politics of difference, resistance, energy transfers, ecology, memories, and the decline of empires. This broad set of topics is united by the central theme of power, examined under four headings: systems of power, cultures of power, disparities of power, and memory and decline. Taken together, these chapters offer a comprehensive view of the imperial experience in world history

Features of the Political Development of Iraq in 2003—2020: the Formation of a New Elite

The features of recruiting the political elite of Iraq after the overthrow of the regime of President Saddam Hussein in 2003 are considered. The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the processes of elite formation in the Middle East during the period of regional transformations. The key mechanisms and principles of the formation of the Iraqi political elite within the framework of the emerging post-Saddam political system have been identified. It is shown that the political leaders who came into power with the support of the Americans until 2003 were the “counter-elite” of S. Hussein, therefore participation in the opposition movements became an important criterion for recruiting. Special attention is paid to the informal (traditional) principles of recruiting the new elite, which have become the main mechanism of this process. In particular, the following principles are described: “muhassasa taifiyya”, which assumes the distribution of political positions in accordance with the share of ethno-confessional groups in the general population, clan solidarity, and religious institutions. It is emphasized that the role of Shiite religious structures, including spiritual leaders, and their influence on the formation of the political elite have significantly increased compared to the pre-occupation period.

Regional political elite: formation principles and mechanisms (Ivano-Frankivsk region as an example)

The article is dedicated to the problem related to the process of the formation of the political elite of Ivano-Frankivsk region. The main political actors of the regional political elite were specified by the formal features (their influence on the strategic political decisions) and its main groups were investigated (national deputies of Ukraine, heads of local governments and state authorities, heads of regional organizations of leading political parties, business elite, ideological and communicative elite, etc.). The main focus of the study was on the formation through elections and appointments of deputies (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, regional council), as well as public authorities (regional state administration and its structures), which allowed to identify and analyze the main procedures and mechanisms of elite formation in the region, reflecting the complex processes of its change/reproduction on its own basis, renewal through the involvement of new members of society. Based on the analysis of a broad empirical base, the correlation of the process of elite formation of IvanoFrankivsk region with the general tendencies of transformation of the political system of Ukraine, the influence of the center-peripheral paradigm is confirmed. Thus, in the conditions of formation of a hybrid political regime, despite the significant dynamics of renewal of the main institutions of power in the region, this process at the turn of the XX−XXI centuries took place mostly in the form of circulation or reproductive circulation − a limited, formal process of renewal of the political elite, which was under the influence of leading political and economic groups. There was a gradual narrowing of institutional channels for recruiting political elites in the region, which turned it into a social group with incomplete social representation. Significant weight in the process of forming the political elite of Ivano-Frankivsk region „closed” procedures and nomenclature mechanisms, frequent changes during the elections and appointments of leading political actors, which did not always happen with heredity, significantly reduced the overall potential of the regional political elite, which is still not realized in the full measure. Key words: regional political elite, Ivano-Frankivsk region, formation of political elite.