Post Soviet local elites in Siberia and Kazakstan: a pilot study of the cities of Novosobirsk and Karaganda

Completed

Not Energy Related
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Politics and International Studies)
AREA STUDIES (Asian Studies)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)

Professor J Hughes
Department of Government
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Standard

ESRC

01 October 1996

30 September 1997

12 months

£34,873

No relevance to Underpinning Sectors

London

ESRC Energy

Professor J Hughes, Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Objectives not supplied

The structure and composition of ruling elites demonstrate how government and power is organised and exercised in any society, but they are far more important in a society undergoing a regime transition. In the case of the former Soviet Union, the extent to which there is a continuity circulation or turnover of ruling elites will affect the prospects for democratic consolidation and marketisation. This research project will investigate post-Soviet elites in two major cities of the most important states in Eurasia: Novosibirsk in Russia, and Pavlodar in Kazakhstan. The elites of these two cities will be examined as case studies of the local dimension of the transition. The research will be based on interviews with one hundred key members of the local elites identified by the snowball method. A database of personal and attitudinal attributes of the elite members will be compiled, and their networks will be mapped. The project will investigate patterns of change in local decision making through a case study of energy policy. The research will provide an empirical foundation for testing the applicability of pluristic and power elite theories to post-Soviet politics.

20/09/11