The Young Generation of the Russian Political Elite: Status and Personal Characteristics

The Young Generation of the Russian Political Elite:
Status and Personal Characteristics


Palitay I.S.,

Associate Professor, Department of Political Sociology and Psychology, Faculty of Political Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 8321532@gmail.com


elibrary_id: 708065 | ORCID: 0000-0001-9932-562X | RESEARCHER_ID: V-5569-2018


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2020.05.07
Rubric: Russia Today

For citation:

Palitay I.S. The Young Generation of the Russian Political Elite: Status and Personal Characteristics. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No. 5. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.05.07


The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the autonomous nonprofit organization “Expert Institute of Social Researches” in the framework of the scientific (project No. 19-011-31432)


Abstract

The article presents the results of a political-psychological analysis of the young generation of Russian political elite, which has recently been undergoing a transformation. The author describes the main methodological instruments of empirical study, which include a structured interview, the psychobiographical method, content analysis of texts, and event-analysis. Using these methods, the author has collected and processed biographical information from 292 young politicians across various levels. An analysis made it possible to compose a typology of young politicians, based on their career path and life experience. The typologization of results shows that, most often, young people come into the political elite either through the party line, or from their main professional field through which they gain some visible traction. The exception is young high-ranking officials of the ministries, who are moving into elite positions through successive stages of service as officials. This distinguishes the young generation of politicians from the older one, who were recruited through business or public service. As part of the study, an analysis of the personality characteristics of young politicians was also carried out, which was based on a motivational profile, a self-concept, the style of interpersonal relations, and the style of political behavior. The article presents the generalized results of these psychological portraits along the aforementioned parameters. In conclusion, the author summarizes the finding about the state of the young generation of politicians, and provides an assessment of their personal potential and professional capabilities in modern political processes and public administration. 

Keywords
political and psychological analysis, the young generation of politicians, political elite, generations in politics, status-role characteristics, personality traits, psychological profile.


References

Blondel J., Muller-Rommel F. 2007. Political Elites. – The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior. Ed. by R.J. Dalton, H.-D. Klingemann. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 818-882. http://10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199270125.003.0044

Burns J.M. 2006. Running Alone: Presidential Leadership from JFK to Bush II: Why It Has Failed and How We Can Fix It. New York: Basic Books. 278 p.

Gaman-Golutvina O. 2007. Political Elites in the Commonwealth of Independent States: Recruitment and Rotation Tendencies. – Comparative Sociology. Vol. 6. No. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913307X208140

Gaman-Golutvina O. 2018. Political Elites in the USA under George W. Bush and Barack Obama: Structure and International Politics. – Historical Social Research. Vol. 43. No. 4. P. 141-163. https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.43.2018.4.141-163

Genieys W. 2010. The New Custodians of the State: Programmatic Elites in French Society. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. 213 p.

Domhoff G.W. et al. 2018. Studying the Power Elite: Fifty Years of Who Rules America? N.Y.: Routledge. 212 p.

Henn M., Oldfield B., Hart J. 2018. Postmaterialism and Young People’s Political Participation in a Time of Austerity. – The British Journal of Sociology. Vol. 69. No. 3. P. 712-737. http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12309

Locle P. 2017. L’Europe de la jeunesse: Enjeux et pratiques des politiques publiques. Rennes: EHESP. 192 p.

Mishler W., Rose R. 2007. Generation, Age, and Time: the Dynamics of Political Learning during Russia’s Transformation. – American Journal of Political Science. Vol. 51. No. 4. P. 822-834. http://jstor.org/stable/4620102

Parliamentary Elites in Central and Eastern Europe. Ed. by E. Semenova, M. Edinger, H. Best. 2013. London: Routledge. 322 p.

Sloam J, Henn M. 2019. Rejuvenating Politics: Young Political Participation in a Changing

World. – Youthquake 2017. The Rise of Young Cosmopolitans in Britain. Cham: Palgrave Pivot. P. 17-42. http://10.1007/978-3-319-97469-9_2

Warren S. 2019. Generation Citizen: The Power of Youth in Our Politics. Ojai, CA: Counterpoint Press. 384 p.

Winter D. 2016. Manual for Scoring Motive Imagery in Running Text (and Related Materials). Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press. 266 p. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/117563

 

Ashin G.K. 2005. The Concept of “Elite” and Its Role in Political Research. – Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences. No. 7. P. 23-43. (In Russ.)

Batanina I.A., Vorontsov S.A., Ponedelkov A.V. 2017. About the State and Mechanisms of Recruiting of the Modern Russian Political Elite. – Bulletin of Tula State University. Humanitarian sciences. No. 3. P. 3-15. (In Russ.)

Chelovecheskii kapital politicheskoi elity v Rossii. Politiko-psikhologicheskii analiz [The Human Capital of the Political Elite in Russia. Political and Psychological Analysis]. 2012. Ed. by E.B. Shestopal, A.V. Selezneva. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 344 p. (In Russ.)

Gaman-Golutvina O.V. 2016. Political Elites as an Object of Research in National Political Science. – Political Science (RU). No. 2. P. 38-73. (In Russ.)

Logunova L.Yu. 2016. Biographical Method in the Study of Personality: Methodology and Architectonics. – Bulletin of the Kemerovo State University. Series: Political, Sociological, and Economic Sciences. No. 1. P. 17-23. (In Russ.)

Makarenko B.I., Lokshin I.M. 2015. Modern Party Systems: Scenarios of Evolution and Trends of Development. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 3. P. 85-109. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2015.03.06

Myasoedova V.A. 2016. Formation of the Institute of Youth Political Elite in the Context of Political Transformation in the Russian Federation. – RUDN Journal of Political Science. No. 4. P. 19-27. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-1438-2016-4-19-28

Oleinik A.N. 2008. Generational Change in the Elite and the Stability of the Socio-Political System. – Otechestvennye zapiski. No. 4. P. 237-252. (In Russ.)

Palitay I.S. 2019. The Young Generation of Politicians in Modern Russia: a Political and Psychological Approach to Research. – Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 12. Political Sciences. No. 3. P. 7-22. (In Russ.)

Palitay I.S., Mayorova M.A. 2019. Young Generation of the Russian Political Elite: Socio-Demographic Profile. – Bulletin of Moscow State Linguistic University. No. 4. P. 160-173. (In Russ.)

Pokatov D.V. 2019. Recruiting of the Modern Russian Political Elite as a Rotation of Political and Administrative-Corporate Elite Groups. – Power and Elites. Vol. 6. No. 1. P. 71-97. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31119/pe.2019.6.1.5

Popova O.V. 2011. Political and Party Landscape in the New Electoral Cycle. – Bulletin of St. Petersburg State University. Series 6. No. 3. P. 100-107. (In Russ.)

Popova O.V. 2017. Political Consciousness of Today’s Russian Young People. – Political Science (RU). No. 1. P. 138-162. (In Russ.)

Rakityansky N.M. 2011. Lichnost’ politika: teoriya i metodologiya psikhologicheskogo portretirovaniya [Politics Personality: Theory and Methodology of Psychological Portraiture]. Moscow: Moscow University Press. 264 p. (In Russ.)

Sharkov F.I., Ponedelkov A.V., Vorontsov S.A. 2017. Challenges for Today’s Russian Political Elite, and Ways to Address Them. – RUDN Journal of Sociology. Vol. 17. No. 4. P. 524-541. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2272-2017-17-4-524-541

Shestopal E.B. 2016. Elites and Society as Political Actors in Post-Soviet Russia. – Sociological Studies. No. 5. P. 35-43 (In Russ.)

Shestopal E.B., Selezneva A.V. 2012. Psychological Analysis of the Russian Political Class. – Bulletin of the RHF. No 1. P. 91-98. (In Russ.)

Solovyev A.I. 2010. Russian Elitogenesis: Universal and Specific. – Problem Analysis and Public Administration Projection. Vol. 3. No. 3. P. 99-112. (In Russ.)

Sovremennaya elita Rossii: politiko-psikhologicheskii analiz [Modern Elite of Russia: Political and Psychological Analysis]. 2015. Ed. by E.B. Shestopal, A.V. Selezneva. Moscow: ARGAMAK-MEDIA. 448 p. (In Russ.)

Tsyunik D.A. 2016. Primaries in Russia – the Opportunity to Return the Interest of Young People to Participate in the Political Process. – PolitBook. No. 2. P. 95-106. (In Russ.) 

Content No. 5, 2020

See also:


Palitay I.S.,
The Russian political elite: characteristics and dynamics (based on research materials dating from 2011 to 2021). – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No4

Shestopal Ye.B., Novikova-Grund M.V.,
The Images of Twelve Leading Russian Politicians in the Perception of the Public (Psychological and linguistic Analysis).. – Polis. Political Studies. 1996. No5

Shestopal Ye.B.,
Image of Authority in Russia: Desires and Reality (Politico-Psychological Analysis). – Polis. Political Studies. 1995. No4

Round Table of the «Polis» Journal, Shestopal Ye.B., Winter D., Irkhin Yu.V., Chirikova A.Ye., , , , Kuznetzov I.I., Rogozar-Kolpakova I.I., Streletz I.E., Dobrynina Ye.P., , Trofimova V.V., Pishcheva T.N.,
Political leadership and personality problems. – Polis. Political Studies. 2011. No2

Shestopal Ye.B., Rogach N.N.,
Representations of an “Ideal” as a Factor of the Perception of a Political Leader in Reality. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No4

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
5 2009


Mitrofanova A.V.
Enigmas of theocracy and their solution

 The article text
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991