International Sources of Political Conduct

The article deals with the theoretical problem of enquiry into external factors influencing the emergence and behavior of political elite. The author educes structural and subjective characteristics of political elite concept which provides means for scrutinizing the resources, interests, goals and behavior of political elite in dynamic trends. This approach allows logically to connect foreign factors with the concepts of resource availability and international niche occupied by a state controlled by its political elite. Consideration of these factors allows to comprehensively uncover multifaceted motivation and often non-linear causal relationships which determine the behavior of political elite, its tactical and strategic decisions. The effectiveness of governance by a political elite, its sustainability and internal stability depend to a major extent on the stability of state institutions. The resources provided to a political elite depend not merely on the situation within state borders, but also on the character and forms of elite interactions with external political environment. These interactions and relations can to contribute either to an expansion of the resource base or its depletion. The paper proposes an approach towards the study of elites based on the synthesis of elite theory, neoinstitutionalism, and international relations theory. This contributes to the productive development of the field comprising internal and external factors influencing political elite establishment and its political choices. The proposed theoretical framework can be subsequently developed with respect to specific political problems involving political elites as main actors. Implementation of the proposed approach can be done through defining structural and subject features of the political elite and generating relevant variables. Structural features of the political elite can be analyzed through the lens of composition, cohesion and circulation of political elite on the basis of qualitative and quantitative methods. Political elite subject features can be identified by scrutinizing political elite interactions with other actors in internal and external political environment on the basis of the following variables: functioning of political institutions (party system, state apparatus, etc.), and balance of forces and interests of the actors.

1. Acemoglu D. (2008). Introduction to modern economic growth. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 990 p.

2. Almond G., Verba S. (1963). The civic culture: political attitudes and democracy in five countries. Princeton: Princeton university. 562 p.

3. Best H., Becker U. (eds.) (1997). Elites in transition : elite research in Central and Eastern Europe. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. 250 p.

4. Best H., Edinger M. (eds.) (2003). Representative Elites in Post-Communist Settings. Jena,

5. Best H., Higley J. (eds.) (2010). Democratic Elitism: New Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives.

6. Lieden: Brill.

7. Bogaturov A., Kosolapov N., Khrustalyev M. (2002). Ocherki teorii i politicheskogo analiza mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniy [On the Theory and Political Analysis of International Relations]. Moscow: NOFMO,.

8. Bogaturov A.D. (2006). Iskushenie Rejganom. Limitrofy stanovjatsja znachimym faktorom v politike SShA na rossijskom napravlenii [Reigan Seduction. Limitrophes Become a Significant Factor in USA Foreign Policy Towards Russia] // Nezavisimaja gazeta. May 22.

9. Collins R. (1995). Prediction in Macrosociology: The Case of the Soviet Collapse // American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 100, No. 6. P. 1552-1593.

10. Colomer J. (2007). Great Empires, Small Nations. The Uncertain Future of the Sovereign State. Routledge,.

11. David S. (1991). Choosing Sides: Alignment and Realignment in the Third World. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,.

12. Edinger M. (2010). Politicheskie elity v postkommunisticheskikh gosudarstvakh: smena elit i svyazannye s nej vyzovy [Political Elites in Post-Communist States: Elite Rotation and Related Issues]. Demokratiya.

13. Vlast’. Elity: demokratiya vs elitokratiya. Ed. by Ya.A. Plyajs. Moscow: ROSSPEN. Pp. 13-29.

14. Fukuyama F. (2005). “Stateness” First // Journal of Democracy. Vol.16, No.1. P.84-88.

15. Fukuyama F. (2015). Why Is Democracy Performing So Poorly? // Journal of Democracy. Vol.26, No.1. P. 11-20.

16. Gaman-Golutvina O. (2003). Politicheskaya elita – opredelenie osnovnykh ponyatiy [Political Elite – on the Definition of Major Concepts]. Polis. No 3. P.97-103.

17. Goldstone J. (1991). Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. University of California Press,.

18. Gourevitch P. (1978). The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Domestic Politics // International Organization. Vol. 32, No. 4. P.881-912.

19. Higley J., Burton M. (2006). Elite Foundations of Liberal Democracy. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield.

20. Huntington S. (2004). Politicheskiy poryadok v menyayuschikhsya obschestvakh [Political Order in Changing Societies]. Мoscow: Progress-Traditsya,.

21. Kapustin B. (2001). Konets “transitologii”? O teoreticheskom osmyslenii pervogo postcommunisticheskogo desyatiletiya [The End of Democracy Transit Studies? On the Theoretical Conception of the First PostCommunist Decade]. Polis. No 4. P. 6-26.

22. Kaveshnikov N. Ju. (2008). Malye i vrednye [Small and Destructive] // Mezhdunarodnye processy [International Processes]. Vol. 6, № 3. P. 84-92.

23. Khrustalyev M. (1984). Osnoby teorii vneshney politiki gosudarstva [Theoretic Framework of Foreign Policy]. Мoscow: Nauka,.

24. Khrustalyev M. (2015). Analuz mezhdunarodnykh situatsiy I politicheskaya ekspertiza [Ananlysis of International Situations and Political Expertise]. Moscow: Aspect Press,.

25. Kollins P. (2005). “Balkanizatsya” ili “amerikanizatsya”: geopoliticheskaya teoriya etnicheskykh izmeneniy ["Balkanization" or "Americanization": A Geopolitical Theory Ethnic Change]. Logos. No 1 (46). P. 19-64.

26. Kryshtanovskaya O. (2004). Sovremennye contseptsii politicheskoy elity I rossiyskaya praktika [Contemporary Conceptions of Political Elite and the Russian Practice]. Mir Rossii. No 4. P.3-39.

27. Larson D. (1991). Bandwagoning Images in American Foreign Policy // Dominoes and Bandwagons: Strategic Beliefs and Greater Power Competition in the Eurasian Rimland. Oxford: Oxford University Press,.

28. Paul T. V., Larson D., Wohlforth W. (eds.) (2014). Status in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,.

29. Primakov E. (2014). Vyzovy I alternativy mnogopolyarnogo mira: rol’ Rossiyi [Challenges and Alternatives of a Multipolar World: the Role of Russia]. М.: Moscow State University Publishing,.

30. Przeworski A. (2000). Democracy and development: political institutions and well-being in the world, 1950–1990 (Vol. 3). Cambridge University Press. 321 p.

31. Schweller R. (1994). Bandwagoning for Profit: Bringing the Revisionist State Back In // International Security. Vol. 19, No. 1. P. 72-107.

32. Skocpol T. (1979). States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,.

33. Tskygankov P. (2014). Politicheskaya dinamika sovremennogo mira: teoriya I praktika [Political Dynamics of the Modern World: Theory and Practice]. Мoscow: Moscow State University Publishing,.

34. Winters L.A., Martins P. (2004). When comparative advantage is not enough: business costs in small remote economies // World Trade Review. Vol. 3. Issue 03. November. Р. 347-383.