Members of the Federation Council: Careers Before Taking Office and After Resigning

Abstract

This article analyzes the careers of the members of the Federation Council (FC) before entering office and after resignation. The empirical basis of the study is a biographical
database containing information on 637 senators elected or appointed in accordance with the laws on the formation of the upper house, adopted in 2000 and 2012. The main
institutional sectors in which the prior careers of members of the Federation Council are pursued were identified. These include representative bodies, administration and business (the role of other spheres is much weaker). However, the significance of these channels of recruitment varies depending on which power (legislative or executive) delegated the
senators. The analysis showed a number of trends in the recruitment of the FC members in the 2010s: an increasing prevalence of legislative experience in their previous careers, a decrease in the presence of big business representatives in the upper house, an increase in the number of former governors in the FC and the entrenchment of senators in the regions that delegated them. Based on Harasymiw’s model of elite recruitment (in particular, the structure of opportunities) the paper deliberates on the factors which determine the career characteristics of senators and their historical dynamics. As for the careers of senators after leaving office, the study found that they most often worked in commercial organizations, administrative and legislative bodies.