The quality of education of the Russian political elite

The article examines educational strategies for the preparation of the domestic ruling class. The authors rely on two semantic concepts: “elite education” (based on the principles of selectivity and academic excellence) and “elitist” (aimed at preparing the establishment, forming social ties and securing status). The goal is to answer a series of interrelated questions. Does elite education exist in Russia? What kind of education, elite and/or elitist, is received by the administrative elite, which the state attracts to the function of management? Is the meritocratic principle of coopting new personnel into the elite realized?

In the first stage of the study the authors worked with Russian and international rankings. Elite education  in  Russian  universities  was  defined  as  corresponding  to  three  criteria:  1)  qualitative  according to international experts’ assessments, 2) demanded by applicants with high final examinations  scores,  and  3)  ready  to  pay  for  it.  At  the  second  stage  the  research  was  carried  out  by  the biographical method. The data were based on the results of many years of monitoring the Russian political elite. Authors studied the biographies of 885 people who hold senior positions in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government as of September 01, 2022.

The study showed that elite education and elitist education in Russia are not one and the same. A number of universities and separate educational programs which conduct training mainly in mathematical, natural-science directions and information technologies correspond to the international approaches to quality assessment. Representatives of the elite get education in other specialties, or even in universities, which are not present in ratings. This is explained by a number of reasons: the elite is increasingly choosing legal, economic, managerial, diplomatic and military education, which Russian variants are not in demand in the world. The difference in educational trajectories between elite and elitist education also means that the fact of having higher education is important for joining the  elite,  but  not  its  quality.  The  state  does  not  purposefully  attract  graduates  of  the  best  educational programs and universities to public service. Additional factors may be important for entering the elite: capital city accommodation, participation in patron-client relations, belonging to a large corporation.

Members of the elite are educated mainly in universities in the capital. The best high school graduates and the resources that families can spend on education move from the periphery to the center. But in the young generation of the elite the situation is beginning to change by increasing the number of universities they graduated from and the geography of its localization.

Elite and elitist education today do not coincide, which indicates the incompleteness of the period of formation of the Russian ruling class, as well as the system of social elevators in education.

1. Ashin, G.K. (2008). An elite university in the system of elite education. Zhurnal sociologii i social’noj antropologii = The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 31-49. Available at: http://jourssa.ru/files/volumes/2008_1/Ashin_2008_1.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ.).

2. Van Raan, A.F.J. (2005). Fatal attraction: Conceptual and methodological in the ranking of universities by bibliometric methods. Scientometrics. Vol. 626, no. 1, pp. 133-143, doi: 10.1007/s11192-005-0008-6

3. Kuzminov, Y.I. (2007). Оur universities . Universitetskoe upravlenie: praktika i analiz = Journal University Management: Practice and Analysis. No. 3, pp. 8-17. Available at: https://elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_13289562_49965188.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

4. Bourdieu, P. (1979). La Distinction. Critique sociale du jugement. Paris: Ed. de Minuit, 1979. 670 р. (Russian Translation. Per. with fr. O.I. Kirchik Moscow: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2004, 680 p.).

5. Khan, Sh. R. (2016). The Education of Elites in the United States. L’Annйe sociologique. Vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 171-192, doi: 10.3917/anso.161.0171

6. Ashin, G.K. (2008). Russia’s development strategy in the post-industrial world and the development of education. Vlast’ = [The Authority]. No. 1, pp. 3-11. Available at: https://elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_11911406_77685067.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ.).

7. Mills, C.W. (1956). The Power Elite . Oxford University Press. 448 р. (Russian Translation. Moscow: Publishing House of foreign lit.,1959, 453 p.).

8. Piketty, T., Saez, E. (2003). Income inequality in the United States, 1913-1998. Quarterly Journal of Economics. Vol. 1186, no. 1, pp. 1-39, doi: 10.1162/00335530360535135

9. Tev, D. (2016) Russia’s Federal Administrative Elite: Educational Characteristics. Mir Rossii. Sociologia, Etnologia = [Universe of Russia. Sociology. Ethnology]. Vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 76-96. Available at: https://mirros.hse.ru/article/view/4896/5261 (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

10. Tev, D. (2015). Elite education as channel for recruiting power groups: international experiences. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya = Sociological Studies. No. 9, pp. 102-110. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_24160858_39956643.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

11. Gyngazov, R.P. (2011). Political education as a means of influence on political elite recruitment processes. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Tomsk State University Journal . No. 353, pp. 51-54. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_17273094_49499642.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

12. Liferov, A.P. (2015). Education and the path to the elite. Psihologo-pedagogicheskij poisk = Psychological and Pedagogical Search. No. 3 (35), pp. 9-40. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_24374673_73360574.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

13. Shkaratan, O.I. (2011). Russian ‘pseudo-elite’ and its identification in the global and national context. Mir Rossii. Sociologia, Etnologia = [Universe of Russia. Sociology. Ethnology]. Vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 68-88. Available at: https://mirros.hse.ru/article/view/5046/5399 (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ.).

14. Duka, A.V. (2014). Post-Soviet elite: institutionalization and recruitment. Politicheskie instituty Rossii i Francii: tradicii i sovremennost’. Sb. nauch. trudov = Political institutions of Russia and France: Traditions and Modernity. Collection of scientific papers. Moscow. Pp. 203-228. ISBN (EAN): 978-5-248-00756-1. (In Russ.).

15. Burda, M.A. (2017). Political elite of modern Russia: crisis of formation. Problemy postsovetskogo prostranstva = Post-Soviet Issues. Vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 373-379, doi: 10.24975/2313-8920-2017-4-4-373-379 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

16. Konstantinov, К.V. (2018). Osobennosti formirovaniya «putinskoj» politicheskoj elity [Features of the formation of the «Putin» political elite]. In: Gavrikov, V.P. (Ed.). Socialno-politicheskie protsessy v meniaiuschemsia mire: Mezhvuzovskii sbornik nauchnykh trudov = [Social-political processes of chenging world. Proc. of Inter-universities papers. Issue 18.Tver: Publishing House of Tver State University. Рр. 73-78. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_36589530_16859261.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ.).

17. Kochetkov, A.P. (2017). Features of the formation and development of the political class of modern Russia. Vlast’ = [The Authority]. No. 1, pp. 12-18. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_28309694_12917916.pdf (accessed 15.10.2023). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

18. Lavrov, I.A. (2019). Catalysts and inhibitors of political career in Russia. Vestnik universiteta = [Bulletin of a University]. No. 12, pp. 193-199, doi: 10.26425/1816-4277-2019-12-193-199 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

19. Bekhradnia, B. (2016). International university rankings: For good or ill? Oxford: Oxuniprint. Available at: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Hepi_International-university-rankings-For-good-or-for-ill-REPORT-89-10_12_16_Screen-1.pdf (accepted 29.10.2023).

20. Ebzeeva, Y.N., Gishkaeva L.N. (2022). Prospects for the promotion of Russian universities in the international academic ranking ARWU. Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Sociologiya = RUDN Journal of Sociology. Vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 337-351, doi: 10.22363/2313-2272-2022-22-2-337-351 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

21. Pugach, V.F., Zhukovskaya, M.E. (2012). HEIS Rankings: International and Russian Methods of Assessment. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia. No. 8-9, pp. 15 -25. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_17921109_29420754.pdf (accepted 29.10.2023) (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

22. Kryshtanovskaya, O.V. (2005). Anatomiya rossiiskoi elity [Anatomy of the Russian elite]. Moscow: Publishing House Zaharov, 384 p. ISBN: 5-8159-0457-0 (In Russ.).

23. Toshchenko, J.T. (1999). Elite? Clans? Clicks? What are the names of those who rule us? Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya = Sociological Studies. No. 11, pp. 123-133. (In Russ.).

24. Mosca, G. (1994). The Ruling Class. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (транслит) = Sociological Studies (англ. вариант названия журнала). 10:187-198. (In Russ.).

25. Gross, N. (2009). America’s Lawyer-Presidents: From Law Office to Oval Office. Northwestern University Press. 392 p.

26. Raskin, D.I. (2021). Establishment of Highest Bureaucratic Elite in Russian Empire in 19th — Early 20th Centuries: Education and Professional Qualifications. Nauchnyj dialog = [Scientific Conversation]. No. 4, pp. 410-422, doi: 10.24224/2227-1295-2021-4-410-422 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

27. Irkhin, Yu.V. (2008). Political elites yesterday, today, tomorrow. Social’no-gumanitarnye znaniya = Socio-humanitarian Knowledge. No. 2, pp. 75-89. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_15194811_90444314.pdf (accepted 29.10.2023) (In Russ.).

28. Weber, M. (1988). Politik als Beruf. In: Ders.: Gesammelte Politische Schriften (herausgegeben von Johannes Winckelmann), 5. Auflage, Tübingen, S. 505–560 (Russian Translation. Moscow: Publishing House Litres, 2018, OOO Gruppa Kompanij «RIPOL klassik» [LLC Group Of Companies “RIPOL classic”] 220 p.).

29. Volosov, E.N. (2008). Regional technocratic elite – a special layer of the party nomenclature of the 60-80s of the XX century (on the example of the Irkutsk region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory). Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Politologiya. Religiovedenie = The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series: Political Science and Religion Studies. No. 1, pp. 181-196. https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_15130481_67617471.pdf (In Russ.).