Sub‐national Élites and post‐communist transformation in Russia: A reply to Kryshtanovskaya & White

Abstract

IN PRINCIPLE ONE WOULD EXPECT that the process of democratisation in post-Soviet Russia, specifically the establishment of free elections, should lead to a more pluralistic pattern of political representation. At the very least, one would expect democratisation to lead to a pattern of representation that is differentiated from the communist past. Elite configurations and behaviour are crucial factors in determining how governance and power are organised and exercised in any society. An important dimension for any evaluation of post-communist democratic transition in Russia is the extent to which there has been adaptation and continuity, circulation or turnover of ruling elites. Transition theory argues that in societies undergoing a regime transformation elites play a key role in change, determining its boundaries, brokering the process and managing the outcome. A key proposition of the theory is that a 'negotiated' transition based on an 'elite compact' is the most stable route to new democratic institution building.1 The actor-focused model of regime change posits that it is the 'internal relations of national elites' that determine the success or failure of a

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