The Soviet Administrative Elite

The Soviet elite has undergone two major transformations in the twentieth century: Stalin's purges and replacement of old elite by Soviet trained proletarian modernizing managers; and, under Gorbachev, the current displacement of the modernizing managers by politicians. This book is an analytical study of the Soviet political elite as a body, from 1917 to 1990. Focusing on the changing structure of the elite , it is based partly on Kenneth C. Farmer's database consisting of biographical and career data on over 1500 high-level leaders. Farmer also synthesizes the work of four classical theorists--Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, Max Weber, and Alexis de Tocqueville--with more contemporary theorists. The book's unique features include its scope, the central database (the largest on which any work has been published), and its creative theoretical approach.

Farmer concludes that the dismantling of the personnel selection system with competitive elections deprives the elite of the ability to reproduce itself. New voluntary associations make possible the emergence of genuine strategic elites. In examining the ramifications of this new system, this book is one of the first studies to apply a structural-anthropological theoretical framework to the phenomenon of Soviet elites. Scholars in the Soviet studies field will find this unique theoretical approach refreshing and thought provoking.

List of contents

Preface
Introduction: The Theoretical Context
Educating the Elite
Elite Structure
The Stalinist Transformation
Elite-Society Relations
Elite Recruitment and Mobility
Venality
Iron Teeth: The Gorbachev Transformation
Selected Bibliography
Index

About the author

KENNETH C. FARMER is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Marquette University. He is the author of Ukrainian Nationalism in the Post-Stalin Era and numerous articles on Soviet nationalities policies, and on elites in the Soviet Union.

Product details

• Authors: Kenneth C. Farmer, Farmer Kenneth C., Walter Orebaugh
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 7 to 17
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 16.04.1992
• EAN: 9780275941390
• ISBN: 978-0-275-94139-0
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, Political structure & processes, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Far-left political ideologies and movements, c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1), c 1919 to c 1939 (Inter-war period), c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period), Former Soviet Union, USSR (Europe), USSR, Soviet Union, Marxism & Communism, Political structure and processes, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), c 1914 to c 1918 (World War One period), POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Russian & Soviet, Politics, Law, and Government: Comparative Politics