Generations and the Conversion of Power in Postcommunist Russia

Author： Kryshtanovskaya Olga White Stephen

ISSN： 1568-0258

Source： Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Vol.3, Iss.2, 2002-08, pp. : 229-244

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Abstract

The Soviet political system was nominally one in which all the generations were engaged in political activity. But with the slowdown in advancement in the Brezhnev years the leadership became increasingly middle-aged, and the changes that took place under Gorbachev had much to do with the efforts of younger officials to move into the higher positions that had been denied to them. The end of the Soviet system has led to a sharp fall in the representation of younger people in elected institutions as the quota system was abandoned, although the elite itself became a younger and better educated one. In a parallel process, former members of the ruling nomenklatura moved into positions of economic power. Young people, however, are disengaged from the political process, and as newer patterns of recruitment become established the average age of elite members is likely to increase and the interpenetration of business and political elites to extend further.