The Transition from Communism to Capitalism: Ruling Elites from Gorbachev to Yeltsin

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Crucial to the understanding of breakdown and transition are analyses of changes within the internal relations of national elites. In this text the authors define and detail the political elites under state socialism, showing how the elites under Gorbachev were profoundly fragmented. They further reveal how, with the maturation of state socialism, new class interests arose which were cultivated by, and in turn influenced, the Gorbachev leadership. The authors put forth the argument that these class interests are strongly represented in today's political settlement in Russia. They consider various interpretations of what has led to Russia's condition, including the idea that executive capital is more important than political capital and has been reproduced in the transition from communism. The work ends with a conclusion that details why the elite structure in the transition to capitalism is quite different from the incumbent elites in the former Soviet Union.