The Russian ‘Pseudo-Elite’: their Identity in the Global and National Context

Abstract

Ovsey Shkaratan — Tenured Professor, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. Address: 20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: ovsey.shkaratan@gmail.com

It is quite evident that the productive part of Russian society (national bourgeoisie, professionals and skilled workers) has a strong interest in modernization, i.e. the advancement of industrial and post-industrial sectors of the national economy. However, this is only possible with open support from the ruling elite, whose current values and interests are, in fact, inconsistent with such a strategy.

The ruling class in Russia is dominated by people who hold complete control over the exports of mineral resources — among them primarily: gas, oil, diamonds, metals and timber. These ‘owners’ and exporters of mineral resources can be regarded as comprador bourgeoisie, whose wealth depends on external, rather than domestic economic and political conditions. Among the traits of the Russian comprador elite (state officials, as well as businessmen), one can identify a consumerist attitude to national wealth (mineral resources, as well as labor), a strong dependence on foreign investment and centers of political influence, and a habit of keeping profits and savings abroad.

The general strategy of these compradors is to avoid any costs related to everything that does not make big and immediate profits. It is also peculiar how the large exporters of mineral resources, as well as their arm-in-arm colleagues from the finance sector, experience a serious lack of confidence in decision-making due to the unresolved legitimacy of private property in Russia. No wonder, so many of them are so eager to sell their Russian businesses as soon as possible and move their capital to the West. That also explains why these major property owners, and the higher state officials who control them, share ultra-liberal, anti-statist views.

It is apparent that the core of the Russian elite completely refuses to abandon the paradigm of rent-seeking behavior for an innovative one in order to modernize the economy. In the social sphere they perceive the population as a renewable resource — they are excessive in an economy which exports raw materials in exchange for foreign goods and services. They refuse to accept a more civilized paradigm, where the population is perceived in terms of its human capital or human potential; in other words, a strategic resource for creating a modern economy. As for the political paradigm, the Russian ‘elite’ continue to regard population as a subject of governing and political manipulation, rather than act as a representative or an arbitrator of pluralistic interests of the population.

In accordance with the above, the contemporary Russian ‘elite’ face a lot of difficulties with identification in global, regional and national dimensions. Their economic interests, as well as the economic interests of the whole country, call for a better interaction, first of all, with Europe where Russia faces perhaps the most severe tensions related to differences in value systems (relating to Russia’s disregard of human and civil rights). From here follows Russia’s permanent uncertainty between the natural attraction to Europe and the efforts to build its own statehood as an independent center of global influence. Russian elites definitely wish to be perceived on equal terms with Western elites, while at the same time they reject European, and especially American, values and principles.

Finally, it is proposed that Russia’s most challenging problem in the nearest future is whether it will succeed in enhancing its authoritarian regime with a more or less developed meritocratic system of vertical social mobility.