ABSTRACT
The question of what constitutes an ‘elite’ has been answered differently by what might be conveniently labelled the ‘power school’ and the ‘pluralists’. Building on the classic works of Mosca, Pareto, and C. Wright Mills, the ‘power school’ asserts the existence of an integrated governing or power elite that controls any modern country’s political regime and makes all main policy decisions. While there are other and contesting elite groups, these manage to influence only secondary aspects of government policy. This thesis of a core elite has been challenged sharply by scholars who depict elites in modern democratic systems as much more pluralistic (Dahl 1961, 1971). In their view, there is no dominant or integrated elite but rather constantly shifting constellations and coalitions of more or less equally powerful and organisationally distinct elite groups. Elite configurations vary and co-operation is determined not by common ‘elite interests’ but by the type of government policy that influences the interests of various elite groups. While the pluralist model of elite behaviour is rooted in societal interests and is posited on long-term experience with Western democracies, the conditions for post-communist elites are quite different. Because Russian democracy is new and its elites cannot clearly be classified along socio-economic cleavages, the question of elite differentiation remains an open one to be explored through empirical research. One major purpose of this study is to provide a more informed answer to the question of the extent to which elite pluralism is developing in Russia.
