Entrepreneurship of Elites and Exploitation of Rents: Interpreting Political History of Kabardino-Balkaria (1989–2018)

Abstract

A relatively stable political system in Russia extends its perseverance to subnational units. But in the long term, aspirations of ruling elites to implement the national sovereignty project are bound to be naught without a pertinent strategy for social and economic development, which requires a resourceful enforcer with political willingness. In this research, we investigate historical evolution of political system in Kabardino-Balkaria at the level of the ruling elite that participate in distribution of political and economic privileges. We interpreted the post-Soviet history of the republic through the lens of social orders theory. Within the de quo social order, we laid emphasis on three key groups in the ruling coalition – top bureaucrats, politically connected large business (oligarchs), and heads of security forces (siloviki). Over the post-Soviet period, the ruling coalition failed to establish broader access to sources of rent and constitute a more inclusive political system for various political actors and economic agents. Against this backdrop, the path of development and outlooks for the existing limited access order remain open to interpretations.